Power Restored for Most on New Hampshire Seacoast, Maine Efforts Continue

As temperatures begin to moderate, a few thousand New Hampshire and York County utility customers are left to be restored.

3,261 Eversource, Unitil, and NH Electric Co-op customers were without power statewide as of 6:45 a.m. Monday morning.  4,814 Central Maine Power customers in York County were still awaiting restoration that may not be completed until Wednesday.

Seacoast region communities with customers still waiting for restoration:

• Eversource: Dover, Durham, Hampstead, Madbury and Strafford
• NH Electric Co-op: Barnstead, Nottingham
• Unitil: none
  
• Central Maine: Berwick, Hollis,  Kittery, Lebanon, Limerick, Limington, Newfield, North Berwick, Sanford, Shapleigh, South Berwick, Wells and York
  

Single Service and Isolated Pockets

On Sunday, Until declared most of its restoration efforts complete, but continues work on isolated pockets and customers with single service issues. Liberty completed most of its work on Saturday.

“Unfortunately, this storm has disrupted holiday plans for so many families who have been forced to either cancel gatherings or make alternate arrangements. We understand the difficult decisions they’ve had to make and appreciate their patience as our crews worked tirelessly through this event to bring the lights back on for as many customers as possible for Christmas Day,” Unitil Media Relations Manager Alec O’Meara said in a statement.

He said customers who remain without power after their neighbors have been restored are urged to call Unitil customer service and report the outage again. Some of these customers may have service issues specific to their home, which will require work by a private electrician before restoration can be completed.

Fresh Crews Arriving for NHEC, Eversource

Eversource said it brought in additional crews Sunday from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania to complete restoration for its customers. It will shift crews to its hardest hit communities to work on the most labor intensive projects, such as the replacement of utility poles. 213 were replaced so far by Eversource crews.

The company's outage map listed Monday at 6 p.m. as the estimated time of restoration on its outage map.

New Hampshire Electric Co-op also brought in out-of-state crews, and said power should fully be restored by Wednesday night.

"With increasing manpower in the field, we look forward to a productive day tomorrow. In the meantime, fresh crews will be on duty tonight and will continue the restoration throughout the night," the utility said in a statement on its Facebook page.

"Humbled" by Support for Crews

Central Maine Power President and CEO Joe Purington said restorations efforts have reached a granular level for some areas. Most customers should be back online by Tuesday, according to Purington.

"We are now at the point of restoration where it requires similar resources and time to make the repairs to restore a handful of customers or even a single customer as it does to restore hundreds or thousands. Additional restoration crews have arrived today to assist in our efforts, and more crews will be arriving (Monday)," Purington said in a statement.

The CEO said he was "humbled" by the outpouring of support for the crews who are working round-the-clock in the form of home cooked meals, even through there was no power.

The weather for the last week of 2022 should be conducive for restoration efforts, with temperatures moderating towards above normal levels by New Year's weekend as a high pressure area gradually builds in along the entire east coast, according to the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH