Unitil, (www.unitil.com), a provider of natural gas and electricity to customers in New England, has restored power to 93 percent of its customers less than 18 hours from the peak period of Hurricane Sandy’s impact to the region, including 99 percent of Unitil’s Massachusetts customers.
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, approximately 7,200 of Unitil’s 104,000 electric customers are without power, down from a reported peak of 41,100 customers out at 11 p.m. Monday evening. Of those, approximately 5,700 customers are without power in the NH Seacoast region 1,200 are out in the New Hampshire Capital region and 300 in North-Central Massachusetts.
Damage in New Hampshire was more extensive, specifically in the coastal region of the state where Hurricane Sandy had its most devastating impact. Unitil expects to be complete in New Hampshire by end of day Wednesday, though some isolated pockets and single services may last into Thursday.
As power is restored, customers who remain without power after their neighbors have been restored may have a single service issue specific to their home. Customers who are still without power after their street has been restored should call customer service to make sure their outage is in the system. Some homes may require work by a private electrician before restoration can be completed.
“Crews will continue to canvas our service territory today as we work aggressively to restore power for customers,” Unitil Media Relations Manager Alec O’Meara said. “We will continue to provide regular updates on our restoration efforts as we bring customers back on.”
Unitil will be communicating throughout the storm and restoration through Public Service Announcements (PSAs), our website, our customer call center and through the media. We also encourage customers to follow along with our storm updates via our Twitter feed (@Unitil) and will be providing real-time outage information online at www.unitil.com/map.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR MEDIA: Unitil asks that when reporting outage information, outlets time stamp the information. Outage numbers change hourly and we wish to make sure the information customers receive is consistent and understandable. Re-Tweets and re-posting of old information without referencing a time can create confusion.
Customers experiencing outages should call the following toll-free numbers:
- For the NH Seacoast Area: 1-800-582-7276
- For the NH Capital Area: 1-800-852-3339
- For Massachusetts: 1-888-301-7700
You can also report outages online at http://www.unitil.com/report-outage.
