April 08, 2009

Congressman Mike Michaud Visits Bangor Hydro Electric Company

Bangor, ME--Bangor Hydro Electric Company hosted Congressman Mike Michaud at its corporate office in Bangor today. The Congressman had an opportunity to learn about new technologies that have been implemented in recent years to improve response time during power outages and improve system reliability.

"I was expecting to hear the same things I've heard from electric companies for many years," said Congressman Michaud. "I was surprised to learn of all the new things that Bangor Hydro has been working on."

Highlights of the visit included Storm Restoration Project improvements prompted by a severe storm in October 2006 that left customers without power for days. Since then, Bangor Hydro has incorporated Automated Meter Infrastructure (AMI), which assists dispatchers in determining where power has been restored, and Automatic Vehicle Location, which helps dispatchers distribute crews appropriately. Customers can utilize the AMI technology at bhe.com to monitor electricity usage.

"We're excited to talk about these changes, because customers have been asking for more information, and we're more equipped to provide them with the tools they need to plan during outages," said Kim Wadleigh, Senior Director of Customer Operations at Bangor Hydro.

In addition, a number of transmission development projects were highlighted, including a newly proposed project called the Northeast Energy Link (NEL) that would construct two 660 MW DC cable circuits with DC converter stations. The line would be 250 miles long and transmit significant renewable energy into the New England market while lowering supply costs and attracting renewable generation to the New England.

Congressman Michaud had an opportunity to tour Bangor Hydro's new corporate facility, which has incorporated a number of environmentally-friendly changes including the installation of energy-efficient air-source heat pumps, reduction of consumables, and the kickoff of the (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) LEED certification process.

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 $4.7 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 600,000 customers. Emera also owns 19% of St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited, which serves more than 50,000 customers on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia and 25% of Grand Bahama Power Company which serves 19,000 customers on the Caribbean island of Grand Bahama. In addition to its electric utility investments, Emera has 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; a 7.4% interest in Open Hydro and Emera Energy Services which manages energy assets on behalf of third parties. Visit Emera on the web at www.emera.com.