Bangor Hydro and Maine Public Service Send Crews to Rhode Island to Help Restore Power
Thursday, November 01, 2012
(Bangor and Presque Isle, ME)-Bangor Hydro Electric Company and Maine Public Service Company crews are heading to Kingston, RI today to assist National Grid with power restoration. The crews assisted Central Maine Power on Wednesday and a subset of that group is heading farther south to repair damage from Hurricane Sandy. Bangor Hydro participates in the Northeast Mutual Aid Group (NEMAG) that is comprised of more than 20 utilities across the Northeast US and Canada. That group works collaboratively to determine the needs and available resources, and then matches them up to result in the greatest overall good.
"In the wake of a natural disaster, member utility representatives host daily conference calls to coordinate equipment and crew mobilization," said Lisa Martin, Manager of Line and Meter Operations at Bangor Hydro and Maine Public Service. "As a result of a NEMAG call last night, seven Bangor Hydro crews and two Maine Public crews as well as several mechanics and supervisors were assigned to National Grid."
Once power has been restored in Rhode Island, decisions will be made whether the crews will assist in other areas severely damaged by the hurricane.
"We must consider our commitments to our customers in Maine when determining the number of crews we will send out of state and believe we have an adequate balance to meet both needs at this time," Martin said.
Bangor Hydro and Maine Public Service were affected by about 6500 power outages in both service territories during the storm. Power was restored to customers in about 24 hours.
Bangor Hydro Electric Company and Maine Public Service are regulated electricity
transmission and distribution utilities wholly-owned by Emera Inc. Halifax,
NS (EMA-TSX. Bangor Hydro serves 117,000 customers in an area encompassing 5,275
square miles in eastern and east coastal Maine, and is a member of the New England
Power Pool and is interconnected with other New England utilities to the south and
with the New Brunswick Power Corp. to the north. Maine Public Service serves
approximately 36,000 electricity customer accounts in Northern Maine.
To learn more visit our websites at www.bangorhydro.com
and www.mainepublicservice.com.
Emera Inc. is an energy and services company with $7.4 billion in assets and 2011
revenues of $2.1 billion. The company invests in electricity generation, transmission
and distribution, as well as gas transmission and utility energy services.
Emera's strategy is focused on the transformation of the electricity industry to
cleaner generation and the delivery of that clean energy to market. Emera has
interests throughout northeastern North America, in three Caribbean countries.
More than 80% of the company's earnings come from regulated investments.
Emera common and preferred shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and
trade respectively under the symbol EMA, EMA.PR.A, and EMA.PR.C. Additional
information can be accessed at www.emera.com,
www.sedar.com,
or on www.sec.gov.
