Unitil Corporation, (www.unitil.com), a provider of natural gas and electricity to customers in New England, will be working through the night and into tomorrow morning to restore power to customers following a heavy snowstorm Wednesday afternoon and evening.
“The snow remained wet and heavy throughout the storm, sticking to trees and weighing them down,” Unitil media relations manager Alec O’Meara said. “Crews are out working to restore power and to insure public safety, but the total scope of damage will not be known until the storm has passed fully. Restoration efforts will not be completed tonight.”
Unitil secured additional resources in preparation for this storm and these crews have been working throughout the night to restore power. As of 8 p.m., Unitil has approximately 18,000 customers without power. Of those, approximately 16,500 of the customers without power are in Unitil’s New Hampshire Capital (Concord, NH) area, 900 are without power in the NH Seacoast region and 600 are without power in Massachusetts. An estimated time of restoration for all customers will be provided once the damage assessment phase has been completed.
“We recognize that tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and many families have plans that rely on electricity,” O’Meara said. “We will work to restore power to your families before we return to our own families on this important holiday, and we ask for your patience and understanding while we work to restore power following this storm.”
Unitil will be communicating throughout the storm and restoration through Public Service Announcements (PSAs), our customer call center and through the media. We also encourage customers to follow along with our storm updates via our Twitter feed (@Unitil), on Facebook 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. Re-Tweets and re-posting of old information without referencing a time can create confusion.
In the event of downed wires, assume all cables and wires that have fallen or dangling are energized and stay away. Be sure to avoid wet ground or puddles near a downed lined because water conducts electricity. In addition, keep away from all flooded and debris laden areas because they may be hiding downed lines and avoid anything metal nearby which could potentially conduct electricity. Stay in a safe place and avoid driving in damaged areas so you don’t interfere with rescue and restoration efforts.
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.
