Unitil Corporation, (Unitil.com), a provider of natural gas and electricity to customers in New England, has continued to make progress on restoration throughout the day today and will continue to work overnight and into Christmas.
As of 7 p.m., approximately 2,490 Unitil customers in New Hampshire are without power, down from a Friday evening peak of approximately 22,000. Normal operations in Massachusetts resumed midday. The Concord, New Hampshire region has the majority of remaining outages, as this region was hardest hit by the afternoon cold front that passed through the region yesterday. Unitil estimates that a majority of Unitil customers will be restored by end of day tomorrow, with some isolated pockets and single services extending into Monday.
“As a restoration like this reaches the later stages, we often see the number of customers restored over time slow down, as the number we pickup from each repair gets smaller and smaller,” Unitil Media Relations Manager Alec O’Meara said. “Crews will be out in force overnight and will continue right through Christmas to make seasons bright as rapidly as we can for our customers.”
Customers who remain without power after their neighbors have been restored are urged to call Unitil customer service and report the outage again. Some of these customers may have service issues specific to their home and will require work by a private electrician before restoration can be completed. Once the work is complete, customers should call customer service to have restoration completed.
If using a generator at your home, please note that an improperly installed or positioned generator can cause exhaust, containing deadly carbon monoxide, to accumulate in your dwelling. Installing a carbon monoxide detector can help detect this odorless and colorless gas before it becomes a dangerous concern. In addition, such generators can “backfeed” electricity into the distribution lines and electrical equipment, seriously injuring or electrocuting a line worker or anyone who may touch a now-energized line thought to be dead. More important safety messages on generator usage can be found online at Unitil.com.
Unitil will be communicating throughout the event 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 Facebook, our Twitter feed (@Unitil) and we will be providing real-time outage information online at 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 1-888-301-7700.
You can also report outages online at unitil.com/report-outage.
