Unitil Corporation, (Unitil.com), a provider of natural gas and electricity to customers in New England, is seeing new outages develop as a second front passing through the region.
As of 6 p.m., approximately 16,300 Unitil customers are without power, with 15,700 of those customers in New Hampshire and the remaining in Massachusetts. Crews had brought morning outages down to approximately 1,500 customers from a peak of approximately 7,500 customers prior to the new outages, but a second band of winds has caused new issues. Restoration is expected to continue into the overnight hours with fresh crews reporting.
“We are seeing a band of thunderstorms severely impact the area as this cold front passes through,” Unitil Media Relations Manager Alec O’Meara said. “Progress on restoration is expected to slow as we continue to work tonight and into tomorrow. Additionally, the potential for new outages from hazardous winds continues to exist as the cold front arrives and temperatures drop significantly.”
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.
