BALTIMORE, Sept. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE), a subsidiary of Constellation Energy , today announced that it has restored power to nearly 90 percent of its customers who lost power, the result of Tropical Storm Ernesto which impacted the utility's Central Maryland service territory with high wind and downed trees and limbs.
"While yesterday's focus was on addressing issues involving public safety including downed power lines, and restoring power to large groups of customers, today we've turned our attention to house-to-house restoration, where our crews must visit individual homes in order to restore power as safely and as quickly as possible," said Stephen J. Woerner, vice president of electric transmission and distribution for BGE. "We continue to remind our customers to exercise extreme caution around downed power lines and to contact BGE to report any remaining outages which may exist. We thank our customers for their ongoing patience and understanding as we continue with our restoration efforts. As always, the safety of our customers and employees is our number one priority."
As of this morning, BGE crews have restored power to more than 160,000 customers. In total, more than 183,000 BGE customers have been affected by Ernesto.
The utility also announced that it has increased its number of utility and contract employees engaged in the restoration effort to approximately 700, an increase of more than 200 over yesterday's complement. This includes additional field crews from contractors and neighboring utilities who have been made available to support harder hit utilities such as BGE.
BGE still anticipates restoring power to the majority of its affected customers by midnight tonight, however, the utility cautioned that there will be some instances where power will not be restored until Monday.
BGE restores power with the following priorities in mind:
-- Public safety including downed and sparking wires
-- Critical facilities including hospitals, 911 call centers, and water
and sewage treatment plants
-- Large outages affecting the greatest number of customers
-- Customers that have been without power for the longest period of time
BGE encourages its customers to report all outages by calling 1-877-778- 2222. Knowing about each outage assists BGE to determine where the damage is on its system. As a reminder, BGE is no longer distributing dry ice in order to better support restoration efforts. Also, BGE urges its customers to avoid downed wires and trees. Customers should immediately report downed wires to BGE at the number above and warn others to stay away.
If dependent upon electric-powered medical equipment, customers are encouraged to make alternate arrangements in the event service is interrupted. Customers should also disconnect sensitive electronic equipment such as computers and televisions to avoid surge damage during restoration (surges can occur at other times, so customers may want to consider purchasing surge protectors for sensitive equipment). When using a generator, customers should ensure it is properly vented.
In preparation for Ernesto's arrival, BGE had been monitoring the weather and assessing staffing, equipment and other needs to ensure the availability of sufficient resources. Additionally, BGE conducts periodic emergency training drills and reviews its Electric Delivery Emergency Response Plan to ensure storm response procedures are current and in line with industry standards.
BGE is a member of Constellation Energy, (http://www.constellation.com/), a FORTUNE 200 company, the nation's largest competitive supplier of electricity to large commercial and industrial customers and the nation's largest wholesale power seller. Constellation Energy also manages fuels and energy services on behalf of energy intensive industries and utilities. It owns a diversified fleet of more than 100 generating units located throughout the United States, totaling approximately 12,000 megawatts of generating capacity. The company delivers electricity and natural gas through the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE), its regulated utility in Central Maryland.
