Electric companies gain ground on power outages

BANGOR – The goal is to restore power by the weekend to all customers who lost it during Wednesday’s storm, said representatives from Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. and Central Maine Power.

“We are gaining ground and will continue to push on as safely and quickly as possible to make repairs and restore service to our customers,” Bangor Hydro’s Jen Brooker said in a Friday afternoon press release. “There is a strong likelihood that all services will be restored by the end of the day today.”

Around 134 Bangor Hydro customers remained without power as of 3 p.m. Friday. Approximately 20,000 Bangor Hydro customers lost power as a result of Wednesday’s gale-force winds, which knocked down numerous tree branches, disrupting telephone, cable and power service.

CMP hoped to have power back to all of its customers by Friday evening. Approximately 70,630 CMP customers were in the dark after Wednesday’s storm. On Friday afternoon, the number dropped to 2,700.

“We’re looking to have our work finished up by the end of the day,” CMP spokesperson John Carroll said Friday. “We want to have this taken care of.”

Over the previous 48 hours, CMP crews replaced 75 power poles in what Carroll described as “the most outages we’ve had since the ice storm” of 1998.

The heaviest damage still awaiting repair was in the Brunswick area, where 1,600 customers remained without service as of Friday, CMP reported. Other areas with outages included Bridgeton, Skowhegan, Rockland and Belfast.

Helping out were crews from three Canadian companies and Maine Public Service.

“We’re very relieved that the crews came down from New Brunswick,” said Carroll.

New Brunswick Power and two private contractors sent down 25 crews.

Anyone still without power Saturday should report the problem to Bangor Hydro at 800-440-1111 or CMP at 800-696-1000.