December 03, 2007

Bangor Hydro Electric Company Prepares for First Snowstorm of the Season

Bangor, ME--Bangor Hydro Electric Company is monitoring weather conditions closely and is gearing up for the likelihood of outages due to high winds and snow accumulation. Winds are expected to increase tonight, especially along the coast, and the National Weather Service has declared a Winter Storm Warning for the State of Maine through noon Tuesday.

Customers can prepare for possible outages by locating flashlights with working batteries, keeping a battery-operated radio available with fresh batteries, making sure you have a supply of fresh water and some non-perishable food on hand, and making sure secondary heating sources are in good working order. Generators should be professionally installed and never operated indoors. Refrigerated and frozen foods will last longer by keeping the refrigerator and freezer doors closed.

"Our goal is to restore power to all customers as quickly as possible," said Bangor Hydro Communications Officer Susan Faloon. "As we assess the damage to the system, we must restore large transmission lines first followed by substations. We then clear distribution lines starting closest to the substation and working our way to the end of each line. By following the flow of power through the system, we can restore service to the greatest number of customers most efficiently. During this process, we also focus on restoring service to emergency and communications services. "

Bangor Hydro delivers power more than 99.9 percent of the time, but power outages can occur, especially during severe weather conditions. Most power outages occur because power lines are brought down by wind and heavy snow.

"If you see a downed power line, please do not touch or attempt to move it," Faloon said. "Please allow our experienced crews to remove all power lines, as they can become energized at any time."

Customers may call Bangor Hydro's Service Center to report a power outage, downed line or other power emergency at 1-800-440-1111. Updated outage information is available at www.bhe.com.

Bangor Hydro-Electric Company (BHE) is an electric utility wholly-owned by Emera Inc. BHE serves a population of 192,000 in an area encompassing 5,275 square miles in eastern and east coastal Maine. BHE 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. Visit us at www.bhe.com.

Emera Inc. (EMA-TSX) is an energy and services company with $4.0 billion in assets. Electricity is Emera's core business. The company has two wholly-owned regulated electric utility subsidiaries, Nova Scotia Power Inc. and Bangor Hydro-Electric Company, which together serve 590,000 customers. Emera's other investments include a joint venture interest in Bear Swamp, a 600 megawatt pumped storage hydro-electric facility in northern Massachusetts; a 12.9% interest in the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline ; and Emera Energy Services which manages energy assets on behalf of third parties and provides related services. Visit Emera on the web at www.emera.com.