The companies responsible for restoring power to the more than 400,000 Mainers who lost electricity during Monday’s rain and wind storm began providing estimates Wednesday for when people can expect it back.
Central Maine Power Co. still had 196,000 customers without power shortly after noon on Wednesday. Estimated restoration times began appearing on its website before 3:30 p.m. that day.
“We did see 200,000 customers come back Tuesday after localized clearing,” CMP spokesperson Jon Breed said. “We’re making good progress, but as we move forward, now that we have access to more places, now that we have work plans in place, we just need to work.”
Power should be back by week’s end for Versant customers, spokesperson Judy Long said Wednesday. More than 44,000 customers remained without power before 5:30 p.m., just after the company released a list of streets where restoration should happen by the end of the day.
“As we get deeper into this we really hope we can give estimated power restorations down to individual households soon,” Long said.
Thousands of Mainers are still waiting for any indication of when they might expect to have their power restored, 48 hours after most people began losing it in Monday’s storm. Versant’s website still says many outages are “under investigation,” while some towns began seeing estimates on CMP’s website only on Wednesday afternoon.
It comes as the state braces for a cold spell starting Thursday that will bring nighttime temperatures as low as 13 degrees Fahrenheit in Bangor on Friday, which will be dangerous for those without heat as it could cause frozen pipes and hypothermia.
CMP still has about 500 “incidents” — including tree work and substation repairs — to fix to return power to nearly 200,000 customers. Estimates for restoration times ranged from 5 p.m. Wednesday for sections of Portland, where 1,515 people still did not have power as of 3:30 p.m., to 10 p.m. Saturday for much of Penobscot and Piscataquis counties.
“Inland is the most challenging to access,” Breed said. “Six days from Monday more accurately describes the inland, harder hit areas, and elsewhere could see another day or two.”
The company relies on line crews in the field to provide updates on washed out roads and fallen trees that can determine restoration times.
“It’s going to be a bit of a wait until we can fully assess the damage and get a sense of the repairs that need to be made,” Breed said.
Repairs had to be made to Versant’s substations first, which have been completed, Long said. Workers are moving on to repairing circuits and lines, cleaning up trees and replacing poles.
“People can expect to see crews working through more populated areas,” Long said. Crews are focusing on circuits with the most people affected to restore power to the largest number of people first.
Around 200 crews are expected to be in Greater Bangor and Hancock County by Thursday, Long said. Versant began with 95 crews Monday and is expecting additional help from Long Island and Canada. More crews will continue to arrive as they finish repairs in neighboring states that were also hit hard by the storm.
People can report power outages to Versant by calling 207-973-2000, emailing info@versantpower.com or using its online form. If your outage does not appear on the outage map, you should report it again, Long said. Trees on lines and downed lines should also be reported.
Linda Ball, VP of customer service, said that using CMP’s app is the best way to check restoration times for your area. Customers will receive an alert after their power is restored and can text back to confirm if their power is on or off.
