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This is ridic we have a retirement community in our neighborhood and many other elderly people just off hammonds ferry road on Clyde avenue that don't have power. My grandparents have health problems, we have a child in the house and the generator will only last so long.. Riverview was quickly restored.. I understand you have other customers but some sort of response and/or advice anything would help... Hell tell me what to do and I will!!

I don't understand how houses one block over has power and we don't....we always seem to lose power and are the last people to get it back!

Breeanna,

Thank you for your response. It sounds like you may have a low voltage condition at your home.
Please email myhomerep@bge.com your information so that we can have a technician come and diagnose the situation.
Given the widespread outages we are experiencing, it may take us a few days to respond to this concern.

This is absolutely ridiculous! We didn't lose power at all until 10pm Sunday night when the storm is long gone! How do you explain this!!!!

Thank you for the fast response. I was only out of power less than 24 hours. I really expected it to be much longer.

I feel the same way Breeanna feels!! It's pretty messed up to ne able to walk a block or so away from ur dark house, only to see everyone around has lights except for u! I have 2 children one 15, and one 3. How am I supposed to feed them if the food in the fridge, and freezer continue not be cold??? It's only so much some frozen bottles of water can do. We can't even bathe without having to boil water!! I wonder if any BGE employees are without power?? Can u say "things that make u go hmmm...."??

I totally understand their frustration. How is it that one block over has power and we do not. And it always happens in any given situation. It is clear the wiring in particular sector of the city is either very old or faulty. For whatever reason, the Mayor who lives minutes away and other Mt. Washington communities as well as Quarry Lake, all richer neighborhoods have lights and the smaller, pooerer black communities do not. What's this really about. Four utility trucks in the Quarry Lake Community yesterday, not one truck seen on Glen Avenue or in the Glen Community, yet the Jewish Neighborhood further up Park Heights received lights immediately. Is this just a coincedence?

It makes no since how across the street in our apt. Complex has electricity and we don't. I called this morning to get an update and the ignorant lack of respect customer service operator hung up on me. BGE needs to find a faster more efficient way of restoring customers power. Just because Maryland is not located in the major hurricane territory doesn't make them exempt from experiencing storms like Irene.

My neighbor and I called in about a downed wire in our alley at 2:00 am Sunday morning and still haven't seen anyone from BGE. Called back several times, but still nothing. Fire Department called it in as well.

I just want to be sure it's handled since the Baltimore City Fire Department confirmed that the wire had evidence of spark/fire. The downed wire is currently lying in the path of the alley that is utilized by children and pets.

Thank you.

How does BG&E's track quantitative (that means MEASURED) response time for number of days of power outage, and time to restore power compare to other utilities across the nation? I have lived all over the country and have never NEVER seen anything like this. FOr the first thirty years of my life I can count on one hand the number of days of power outage I'd experienced. This included New JErsey, Connecticut, Georgia, and Michigan. Since moving to BGE land ten years ago, we have had AT LEAST 15 days of power outage. My suspicion is that BGE has a problem. Like most problems, this one could be fixed if BGE had the incentive and the commitment to fix it.

Sunday evening the BGE phone hotline wasn't working to report a downed wire on my street corner, and the BGE website was down many times on Sunday. Today (Monday) it is reporting ludicrous 'Current Outages' statistics, for example Harford Country - Total Customers = 100,987 ... Customers Out = 39,927 ... Customers Restored = 54,829. I was without power 8 days during Isabel, and this is day 3 for Irene, and BGE is reporting they've restored more people in Harford County where I live then there are residents with electrical problems. I've lived all around the USA in various Army posts and BGE is the worst power provider I've ever encountered, their inability to operate their own customer assistance resources is just one example of their ineptitude.

Get a generator and quite complaining. They are doing their best.

Going on 36 hours without power and 25% of your customers are still without electricity. How long does brain surgery take? Did no one at BGE get the memo about the really big hurricane about to hit their service area? I'll do you a solid- hurricane season is this time every year. Maybe staff up repair technicians in anticipation.... or do (gasp) preventative maintenance to your grid.

It's s good thing your company doesn't provide some critical service... and an even better thing that you have a government supported monopoly on the distribution of your service.

It still amazes me that the communication with the public is so poor . The tape that BGE has on its phone line is virtually never updated , and we are never know whether it will be hours or days . It seems to me ( and I am in Day 2 , since Saturday 10 pm )
that your field people could communicate to your office people about the areas they are in , and at LEAST an approximate idea when an area should receive power , after the damage is reviewed . I understand that its a big storm , with many outage areas , but I just wish I had the job of communications with your company . You need to have a much better communications system . To tell people ( which they did late yesterday )that they have NO idea , and it could be days , is just not a good answer . IF thats the answer , I know THAT much from my darkened house . If its going to be that poor of answer , get more service people in the field and get rid of the people ( who by and large you can't reach anyway )and reallocate the resources . As a businessman , if I ran my business like that I would be out of business .

Regarding th outtage in 21213. I understand the admiral job the repair crews are doing. I have had to cut and clear a relatively small tree so some of the huge stuff I,ve seen downed are overwhelming. That said it is frustrating to have the houses across the street to rarely lose power while my house on Woodstock Ave loses it every couple thunderstorms. It seems there is a greater issue with infrastructer that is not being addressed.

It would help if when you called the # given for power outage update that they just announce the areas and approx. length of time for restoration. Instead you just punch in information and wait for a customer service rep you know by now isn't going to come on and they tell you "due to high volume of calls, call back later". What kind of help is this? We all understand that it can take time but most people would like to be told an "approximate time for restoration of power".

I've called and emailed. Why can't they give us an estimated time of when MY power will be back on. I think it's ridiculous. At least and ESTIMATE. I'm pretty sure others that have been trying to get through feel the exact same way. 3 days without power how many more do we have to go through?

So my home has been without power since 2am Sunday morning. My question what compensation will there be for the amount of food that people are going to lose? If the predicted time of having the state fully restored is Friday, that means multiple families will be losing money on food that has gone bad in the refrigerators and freezers. While I understand that this takes time, I don't think it is understood that there is a recession and people can barely afford to feed their families as is, now many people have to try to scrape up money to restock food that has been loss?

Come on BGE you have got to be kidding I have been with out power since sundy morning @ 600 am after the storm I have 2 small childern in the house and a 73 year old man with lung cancer i've called and called to get no answer from BGE all they tell me is that there are 189 people with out power in this grid and that they are doing the best they can I do not understand why this grid always goes out find the problen and fix it How would ypu like it if I told you I will pay you maybe on friday like you tell me when you might restore my service you are quick to send a bills or cut off notices when you want your money but not quick to restore our service.

Brian

I know Bge is working hard on restoration. But your outage map is obsolete compared to Pepco and Dominion. It provides little detail as to why I don't have power. It would also help if I knew when my area was being worked on as I could decide to spend a night in a hotel if it was going to be a 3+ day event. We cannot plan for what we don't know and even with this blog and tweeter BGE is just providing generalities and needs to provide more details

This is the 11th time in 2011 we have been without power. Last year same thing. BGE sent a crew in and hacked away all branches anywhere near power lines but obviously no help. We lost power on Aug 21 for the day because of wind.
My parents (87 and 89) live with me and again we have been without power since Sat afternoon. We were told to have power last night by 10:30 but that didn't happen. when I called to find out why the 10:30 didn't happen I was told "who knows we are hoping to have you up by Friday". Wow, talk about poor customer service.

BGE has its priorities backwards. Instead of concentrating on restoring power to homes that are not fed by municipal water supplies, BGE chose to restore power to the urban and suburban population centers first. I have news for BGE management, and, that is, not having running water poses a serious threat to public health! My home was still without power when I left for work this morning.

For those who are complaining about not having lights, TV, or Internet access. Imagine not being able to flush your toilets or wash your hands. A bathtub full of water only lasts a couple of days. What does one do after one runs out of emergency flush water?

In closing, the segment of the BGE power distribution network that services southwestern Carroll County is seriously in need of preventative maintenance and modernization. I have been to third-world countries that experience fewer sustained outages than are experienced in Woodbine. Tree trimming has been seriously neglected on many of the roads that interconnect Maryland Routes 94 and 27. The roads that pass through the Gillis Falls Watershed are in dire need of tree trimming. Southwestern Carroll County has the highest level of personal emergency generator ownership of any place that I have lived in Maryland. In my humble opinion, that statistic reflects poorly on the leadership at BGE.

Loretta,

Good to hear. Thank you for your patience and support.

Celeste,

We do understand this is a challenging situation for your family. We have more than 3,800 people working to make sure power is restored to your home and all of our customers who are still out. We’ve restored more than 70 percent of outages so far and will keep working around-the-clock.

When there is power in your neighborhood but not in your home, please know that we have not forgotten about you. Sometimes we have to take part of the system down for safety purposes, or there may be another wire leading to your home that is down. We will continue to work until you have power.

Cassandra,

Saturated ground coupled with a heavy tree canopy can cause whole trees and tree limbs to come down on power lines and equipment, even after the storm has passed. In addition, as crews work to restore power, some areas of the distribution system may need to be taken offline in order to safely repair parts of the electric distribution system. A truck may leave your area before your power goes back on because the job may require a repair or replacement of a larger power line or piece of equipment before the line to your home is restored.

Renae,

Please know we are restoring our customers as safely and quickly as possible. In anticipation of the storm, we engaged several contract workers and linemen from outside of Maryland. We have more than 3,800 people working to make sure power is restored to your home and all our customers who are still out. We’ve restored power to 70 percent of the nearly 750,000 customers who experienced electric service interruptions during, and in the hours and immediate days following Hurricane Irene and will keep working.

If there is power in your neighborhood but not in your home, please know that we have not forgotten about you. Sometimes we have to take part of the system down for safety purposes, or there may be another wire leading to your home that is down.

Brian,

Power outages may vary by season, and can last from minutes to hours, even days depending on the severity of the event. BGE’s focus is public safety and critical customers, and is placing a strong emphasis on restoring the utility’s 33kV feeder network, which provides the backbone for BGE’s electric distribution network.

Hurricane Irene’s high winds and heavy rain caused widespread, horrific damage throughout our Central Maryland Service area, including many individual cases of trouble caused by whole trees and large tree branches.

I understand your frustration and would like to thank you for your continued patience.

Mark F.,

The damage from the recent storm was widespread and horrific, and a large volume of traffic to our contact center and website did result in delays. We've handled more than 1.2 million calls and continue to operate at a heightened staffing level with more than 200 representatives actively engaged in storm response.

We have restored electric service to 70 percent of the nearly 750,000 customers who experienced electric service interruptions during, and in the hours and immediate days following Hurricane Irene - and we will keep working until everyone is restored.

Please note, the “customers out” column on our outage page shows the number of customers in a specific area that do not have power at this moment. The “customer restored” column shows customers who had an outage, but who now have power. “Total customers” shows the total number of BGE customers who live in that area (including those who have power, those experiencing an outage, and those who never lost power).

I do appreciate your continued patience.

Phil,

I appreciate your patience and support as our crews work around-the-clock to restore power as safely and quickly as possible.

Bob,

In anticipation of the storm, we engaged contract workers and linemen from outside of Maryland. We continue to further augment our restoration resources and have obtained more than 500 additional linemen and support staff who arrived from Alabama Power this morning, bringing to approximately 4,600, the number of people actively engaged in the restoration effort.

We’ve restored electric service to 70 percent of the customers with outages and will keep working.

Thank you for your patience as we repair the widespread damage across our service territory.

Tom O'Farrell,

As you mention, this was a big storm, with widespread damage across our service area. At its peak on Sunday morning, there were approximately 466,000 customers without service. We first had to assess damage, including individual cases of trouble caused by whole trees and large tree branches. With damage of this magnitude, the specific details customers would like are not immediately available. We provide updates to customers as soon as they are available through the news media, on our website, via Facebook and Twitter, and directly to the customers who call. Since the storm began, our call center representatives handled more than 1.2 million calls and continues to operate at a heightened staffing level with more than 200 representatives actively engaged in storm response. We have now restored 70 percent of customers who had outages, and we continue to work.

Thank you for contacting us to share your thoughts.

Clifford B.,

Thank you very much for your support and patience as we work to restore power. As you noted, within a single neighborhood, homes in very close proximity can be served by different distribution lines and equipment, and therefore can have different experiences when storms cause outages. We have an ongoing process of inspecting, maintaining and upgrading our distribution system to improve reliability. Once we have restored power outages caused by the hurricane, this process will continue. Following restoration efforts — the vast majority of which we expect to complete by Friday with scattered outages addressed by Saturday — please contact us at myhomerep@bge.com or 410-685-0123 to discuss your specific location so we can look into this further.

Patricia Cysyk,

Thank you for your continued patience. At this time we expect to restore the vast majority of customers currently without service by late Friday with some isolated outages that may extend into Saturday. The widespread damage caused by the hurricane and the removal of whole trees and large branches from lines in order to fix damaged electric equipment is time consuming and extends outage durations. These factors combine to make providing specific restoration times difficult. Our crews are working in around-the-clock shifts to address the remaining outages as safely and quickly as possible.

Carley,

The damage from this storm has been severe and widespread. We have restored electric service to 70 percent of the nearly 750,000 customers who experienced electric service interruptions during, and in the hours and immediate days following Hurricane Irene. Additionally, the utility is attempting to contact customers whose service should be restored today via automated telephone message. The utility remains on a pace to restore electric service to the vast majority of customers whose service is still out by Friday with some scattered outages that may extend into Saturday.

Restoration crews are working in “pods,” meaning work that requires multiple crews with different skill sets are traveling together, which allows each crew to begin its work as soon as the crew before them has completed their part of the job. This is a very efficient approach to the restoration effort.

As always, restoration priorities are public safety matters such as downed wires and critical infrastructure which includes 911 centers, service restored in a way that hospitals, and water treatment facilities. Once these issues have been addressed, field assignments will be prioritized in order to restore service to the greatest number of customers at a time. Consideration will also be given to customers who have been out of service the longest.

We are working to restore power as safely and quickly as possible. Thanks for your continued patience.

Phyllis,

I do understand this is a difficult time for many families. However, BGE does not provide reimbursements for food spoiled during extended power outages. As part of our storm preparation materials on our website, we do provide a link to the USDA’s site on keeping food safe during extended outages. We also advise customers in advance to prepare for extended outages caused by major storms such as Hurricane Irene. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: ABCD's of Keeping Food Safe in an Emergency contains helpful tips for what to do with food before, during and after extended outages.

BGE continues to further augment its restoration resources and has obtained more than 500 additional linemen and support staff who arrived from Alabama Power this morning, bringing to approximately 4,600, the number of people actively engaged in the restoration effort. We have restored more than 70 percent of those customers so far, and will keep working.

Thank you for your feedback.

We all understand that you all are working to restore service. We also understand there may be more extensive damage than predicted. It is however very frustrating when this power outtage has become more than an issue of comfort. 1 court (6 connected buildings) out of 10 courts in Marble Hall Apts has yet to have been restored since Saturday night. As a result of this, their have been windows broken, a break in, and a fight all within 24 hrs and within the 1 court of apartments with no power. Police have been here 4 times in the pitch black darkness investigating these things but it frustrates me to kno the only reason why these crimes are happening is because there is no power in this area. So my question is will these people get power restoration before someone gets killed or robbed a few feet away from my apartment window?

Thank you. We know you all are working hard to restore power to all communities. I cannot get a real person on the phone and just want to make sure that Lothian (Jug Bay Wetlands) is on someone's list. There is a HUGE tree down on Pindell Road pushing all electric wires to the ground and another a tree a bit into the wooded area. No one has come to remove the tree or look at it. The bus cannot get through and children are being shifted to alternate pick up locations. Neighbors have been trying removal themselves, but, it's a large tree... Please don't forget us...we're likely one of those smaller dots on the outage map, but, still love electricity just as much as those red dots. Thanks again. Stay safe.

Norman Procope,

We first had to assess damage, including individual cases of trouble caused by whole trees and large tree branches. With damage of this magnitude, the specific details customers would like are not immediately available. We provide updates to customers as soon as they are available through the news media, on our website, via Facebook and Twitter, and directly to the customers who call. BGE’s call center has already handled more than 1.2 million calls and continues to operate at a heightened staffing level with more than 200 representatives actively engaged in storm response.

We have restored electric service to nearly 75 percent of the approximately 750,000 customers who experienced electric service interruptions as a result of Hurricane Irene. Thank you for your patience while BGE crews work around-the-clock to restore service.

Chris,

I would be far more understanding to BGE if I felt they were doing the right things by their customers. Power outages have been a problem in my neighborhood for years (our transformer blows in a slight breeze) yet BGE does nothing about it besides raising my rates. Now, after being one of the 1st to lost power on Saturday (7:30), it looks like we will be one of the last to have it restored. Understand, I don't live in the sticks but in Annapolis. I don't see how anyone can judge BGE's preparedness and response to Irene as anything but an epic failure.

Ray,

Thank you for this feedback. We are committed to providing reliable service, and it sounds like we have been doing prior work in your area to assist with outages caused by weather. Regarding our recent storm, please know there was widespread damage. Outages continued even after the storm, as trees continued to fall on power lines and equipment. New damage can affect the restoration plan and make it difficult to provide specific restoration times.

We know it was frustrating to receive new information on your restoration time, particularly as you were concerned about your parents.

We expect to restore the vast majority of customers whose service is still out by Friday, with some scattered outages that may extend into Saturday.

If you continue to have outages after we have completed storm restoration efforts, please contact us again so we can look into your specific situation.

Mark,

Thank you for this feedback. When there is widespread damage as there was after Hurricane Irene, we have to focus on public safety first. We responded to more than 5,000 calls about downed wires. We also place a strong emphasis on restoring the utility’s infrastructure, which supports all our customers. We understand your frustration and the difficulties of being without water. We recently engaged even more out-of-state linemen to help us with our restoration efforts and now have 4,600 people working to restore power to you and all customers who remain without service. We expect to have the majority of customers restored by late Friday, with some scattered outages that may extend into Saturday.

If this information is helpful to you, here are some centers where people without power can receive assistance:

1. AA County Shelter
Annapolis High School
2700 Riva Road
Annapolis, MD 21401
1-410-266-5240

2. Harford County
Patterson Mill Middle/High School
85 Patterson Mill Road
Bel Air, MD 21015
1-410-638-4640

3. Baltimore County
Eastern Vo-Tech
DHR Shelters at Towson University
8000 York Road
Towson, MD 21252
1-410-704-2000


We have forwarded your information on Carroll County to the right department. Please contact us again if you have additional questions or feedback.

Thank you.

Lisa,

We know this is a challenging time for you and your family and other customers in a similar situation caring for children and seniors.

We ask customers who may be elderly, handicapped or dependent on electricity for medical equipment who are still without power to consider relocating to an alternate location until power is restored. For information on support for customers with special needs, please visit our website when you can at http://www.bge.com/customerservice/stormsoutages/stormcenter/beforeastorm/Pages/Customers-with-Special-Needs.aspx

Please know we value every single one of our customers. We have crews working simultaneosly in every county and every city where we provide service. We have restored 70 percent of customers who experienced outages so far, and will keep working until every single customer is back on. We expect to restore the vast majority of customers whose service is still out by Friday with some scattered outages that may extend into Saturday.

Feel free to email myhomerep@bge.com as well to find out if there is an updated estimated time of restoration.

> This morning (Wed 8/31/11) the 8:30 AM update of the Washington Post/Associated Press's running tally of outages said at that time there were 178,000 folks still w/o power in the mid-Atlantic states region (not in MD alone), but not surprisingly BGE alone had 155,000 of them.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/178800-homes-and-businesses-still-without-power-days-after-heavy-rain-and-winds-from-irene/2011/08/31/gIQAjKxVrJ_story.html

> Pepco, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, Delmarva Power, and Dominion Power (almost 3.5 million customers, their websites are below) have a TOTAL of only 23,000 still without power.

> Let's see what's wrong with this picture;

BGE
Total customers = 1,266,000
Total Outages Remaining = 155,000 (12.2%)

PEPCO (DC/MD) = 531,000
Delmarva Power (DE) = 498,000
Dominion Power (VA only) = 2,3000,000
Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (MD) = 150,000
Total Customers = 3,470,000
Total Outages Remaining = 23,000 (0.6%)

> So either Washington DC, VA, DE, and non-BGE serviced parts of MD are very lightly populated rural communities which essentially escaped the wrath of Hurricane Irene, or perhaps BGE is charging premium rates while providing substandard maintenance, equipment, and emergency recovery services compared to its peers. I vote for the latter.



Mid Atlantic Power Company Websites
http://www.pepco.com/_res/documents/pepco_md_leg_fact_sheet.pdf
http://www.bge.com/customerservice/stormsoutages/currentoutages/Pages/default.aspx
https://www.smeco.coop/about/index.html
http://www.delmarva.com/welcome/
http://www.dom.com/storm-center/dominion-electric-outage-summary.jsp

Courtney,

You are right, it sounds like what you and your neighbors are experiencing is more than an issue of comfort.

After we assessed the severe damage from the storm, we brought in even more out-of-state linemen to help us with our efforts. We are determined to get all of our customers restored, particularly those who may be in precarious situations, as safely and quickly as possible. Public safety is our number one priority, and critical services such as 911 centers get our immediate attention so that emergency help can be provided to those who need it.

Please know that our crews are working around-the-clock and have made great progress - more than 80 percent of customers who had outages now have power. We know there is more work to do. We will keep working until everyone in Marble Hall Apartments is restored.

Lothian Residents,

Thank you for your comment. A customer relations representative has tried to contact you via email to investigate this further. If you didn't receive it, please send an email to myhomerep@bge.com with the exact address and name on the account.

After looking at your Outage Map and related numbers for the past few days, Carroll County certainly isn't your priority. I've been tracking it for progress. In fact, I've yet to see ANY service trucks in the county. We've been without power since Sunday morning and in a similar situation as previous posts (well water...so no water, and it happened after the storm had passed). The excuse of two houses next to each other having different issues or different systems/lines doesn't cut it out here. There is power less than a mile from my house, no damage between here and there and only 1 line in and out. So what now? For the post who states "get a generator", I pay my bill so I won't need a generator. Previous posts are correct, aside from the immediate issues, calling and getting a canned response is just poor business.

I understand the frustration everyone is feeling. My power was just restored yesterday (Weds) from and outage that started 3AM Sunday. After many cold showers and tossing all the food in my fridge/freezer, for me to say I wasn't disgruntled would be a lie. On the other hand...

I think people really need to get a grip and understand that the world doesn't revolve around you. This storm resulted in almost 60% of BGE's customers to be without power. I live in Balt Co., one of the hardest hit in regards to outages. The outages were widespread and it is, quite frankly, ignorant to believe that a restoration effort of this level could be completed in a day.

I understand that when you are without power it is easy to get frustrated... Cold showers, walking around with flashlights all night, etc. Especially when the people across the street have power (the complex right across from me had power, and it was so fun watching them). It almost seemed sometimes that they were flaunting their electrical bliss.

For those of you with medical conditions, or low incomes, there is no doubt this has been hard. The loss of valuable food is not pleasant, and it is certainly an unfortunate situation. But to state that BGE is being selective in their restoration practices is also I believe ignorant, and a result of being frustrated. If you have kids, take the time to do things that don't require power. Go for a walk, read together, play a game. Embrace the situation.

I'm not here to defend BGE in anyway, rather provide a different perspective on the situation. I do believe BGE is doing everything within their power to return power. If for no other reason, they are loosing money for each minute people are not connected. They have a business model that depends on people being able to receive the service they provide.

To that... I do believe BGE, and customers, may benefit in the future from a more extensive Vulnerability Analyses applied to their infrastructure. I know near my home there are overgrown trees that are growing through lines, or even laying on them even when the wind and rain is not here. I'm not suggesting that all outages can be avoided. However, through realizing and mitigating these issues the outages the numbers would most likely be reduced.

I do wish everyone well and I hope those of you without power are soon back up and running. For those of you at BGE, I do thank you for working non-stop to try and get everyone back up and running.

I have been with out power since 10:30pm Saturday. A personal tree company was hired to remove the downed tree 2 days ago. Still no sign of BGE. We are not even listed on the crew site list (dundalk). I have 2 small kids and my husband is disabled. I have lost about $200 worth of food and spent about $150 on fast food to feed ny family. I have to continue to buy bags of ice to keep milk cold for my 1 year old. I have a son who just started first grade and I cannot pack his lunch because all of my food went bad. Nor can he take a hot shower because we are without hot water. We are a 4 person family with only 1 income and buying food is hard enough let alone replacing it once its lost. If I didn't pay my bill on time my power would be shut off, so now on top of a $400 bge bill I also have to find a way to replace the lost food. I think BGE should step up to the plate and reimburse for food. I bet all BGE employees have power. What is BGE going to do about this?

Jason,

Thank you for your support and your patience.

Service restoration ensures crews are working simultaneously in every jurisdiction where BGE has customers, addressing public safety and critical infrastructure issues across BGE’s Central Maryland service area. We constantly look to maintain our lines and equipment and take measures to improve service. With roughly two million trees surrounding our 9,400 miles of overhead power lines, we carefully trim branches that pose a threat to the lines, which helps to maintain safe and reliable power to homes and businesses. Even though we prepared for Hurriance Irene, the damage from the storm was severe and widespread. We responded to more than 5,000 reports of downed wires.

BGE continues to work very aggressively to restore service to the remaining customers and will not rest until all of our customers are back in service. Again, thank you for your support.

Troy,

As of today (Thursday) we have restored more than 20,000 customers in Carroll County. Please know that all our customers, in every county BGE serves, are important. When repairing damage as widespread as the damage caused by this storm, we know it is difficult for the customers who remain without power the longest. We continue to work, and won’t stop working, until the remaining 4,112 customers have power.

Mark F.,

Our territory in central Maryland is very diverse, from farms to city neighborhoods to historic areas. Some small areas are served by one feeder and others have an entire complex system. We are pleased that as of this afternoon (Thursday) our outages are just over 67,000. This means that more than 665,000 customers with storm-related outages have been restored. There are many crews from around the country who understand the difficulties of a restoration such as this one, who have come to help us get BGE customers (and customers of neighboring utilities) back on line. To learn more about how we prepare for situations like this, and our efforts to maintain and update our equipment throughout the year, we invite you to visit the “Preventing Outages” section on BGE.com http://www.bge.com/customerservice/stormsoutages/Pages/Preventing-Outages.aspx

Nicole H.,

We know this is a difficult situation for you and many families BGE serves. Our employees do understand, as many have similar circumstances. As our employees live all over central Maryland, some have had their power restored, and some are still without power.

BGE does not provide reimbursements for food spoiled during extended power outages. To try to assist, as part of our storm preparation materials on our website, we provide a link to the USDA’s site on keeping food safe during extended outages. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: ABCD's of Keeping Food Safe in an Emergency (http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/keeping_food_Safe_during_an_emergency/index.asp) contains helpful tips for what to do with food during and after extended outages.

We have focused our resources on bringing in additional crews to help restore power as safely and quickly as possible. The majority of customers will be back on by late Friday, with some scattered outages into Saturday. We will keep working until the lights are on for you and your family.