Blog

Lots of nice PR work.

How about spending more time figuring out how to get decent ETR's to folks? We've been waiting 3 days just for an ETR. Now we find out the ETR is another 2 days away. With decent information we could have made better plans for the 5 days we'll be without power from a summer thunderstorm.

I'll be in touch with the PSC and my elected officials. Let's hope the fine is bigger than PEPCO's was last year, and that the PSC does something worthwhile like distribute the money to all of us that need to spend hundreds to replace the wasted food in the freezer.

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Eric,

From the outset of this storm we asked customers to plan for outages lasting deep into this week. More than two-thirds of those affected were restored by Monday, but when severe impact storms strike, it's realistic to expect outages of much longer duration. Once we have completed restorations for this storm, we will be analyzing our performance and actively seeking ways to enhance our operations.

According to the Baltimore Sun, you have restored power to a majority of customers and you're bringing in more and more workers. Therefore it shouldn't take until the weekend to restore power. You have more people working on less outages. The rate of restoration should be increasing, unless you are incompetent, which I think is true.

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Charlie,

The damage we are seeing is as bad, if not worse than what happens with a named hurricane. This unprecedented weather pattern caused damage of epic proportion. The storm is very much like a hurricane without the advance warning. More than 600,000 customer lost power after the storm. While the out-of-state workers will provide much-needed assistance, it will still take time to restore the remaining customers to service.

BGE's steady progress is slow and inefficient. On the way to a friends house to try and get some laundry done, I drove by a crew of nearly 15 workers, watching one guy work on the wires up on the truck. Meanwhile, parked down the road were three more line trucks sitting completely idle. This is not a good use of resources and is incredibly frustrating to see when my house has hit 90 degrees indoors. Get control of the crews out there and fix this.

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Chris,

The repairs that crews are making to the electric system are extremely complicated and there is no margin for error when dealing with high voltage lines, heavy equipment and extreme heights. Sometimes it is necessary for a crew to wait until a single procedure is complete before continuing. They are also working in conjunction with employees in a control room and at substations miles away who need to perform actions remotely to de-energize lines and make them safe. It may also be necessary for a crew of linemen to wait nearby until tree clearing crews clear the lines or roads. At times, this may seem inefficient to passersby, but the work of the crews in this restoration has been commendable. We are very proud of these employees who do their work in public, in tough conditions, putting safety first and setting aside their own families to ensure our customers and their families have their power restored.

I was just informed that the problem with our power restoration had been located (Old Chapel Rd, Bowie) but that no crews had been assigned to fix it. Why? The neighbors across the street have power...as usual. How much longer will it take? And please don't patronize me by saying your crews are working as hard as they can. Western PA and Ohio had power losses from the same storm, but they have 95% restoration at this point. Why is BGE so far behind?

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Kathleen McGinnis,

The challenge with severe and widespread damage is that after surveying the site, creating a damage report and job ticket, crews may still discover even more damage further down the system, which impacts the original report and estimated restoration time. Many neighborhoods have several different feeders which causes some portions of the same neighborhood to be restored at different times.

Here's a list of locations where our crews will be working today (http://www.bge.com/customerservice/stormsoutages/stormcenter/pages/crew-work-locations.aspx). We thank you for your patience while our crews work as safely and quickly as possible to restore power.

Thanks for working around the clock! Power came on just before midnight. I figured once I went to bed it wouldn't be on until the next day.

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Helen S,

Thank you for your support and patience.

Jeanette,

This makes me literally want to cry seeing all of this "so called " effort that you are giving to your customers. I live in Laurel, Anne Arundel county. We had one of your workers come to our neighborhood and saw there was a down wire on a home. He stated BGE wont do a thing for us until the home is "removed". A tree and wires are down on the home. WE asked him why cant they disable the wire and re route it. He said it can't be done. I have called over ten times a day every day since Friday night. No person. FINALLY today I get someone on the line at 530 am. The rep tells me they are aware and power could be out for three to four weeks!!! Three to four weeks, really? Just to reroute a downed wire. I live in a neighborhood with nearly 2,000 residents. WE have elderly, children and sick people that cannot afford to go stay in hotels. I drove by yesterday and I just sat there and cried with my neighbors. Children so red in the face they cant breather. An elderly lady sitting on her porch eating dry oodles of noodles because she lost 200 worth of food in her home. Her husband had to be rushed to the hospital for heat exhaustion Saturday and they have no clue when he will return home. But when he does according to your company we will be without power for a month. Please explain to me how this can happen to us. We are not a third world country. We are a country and a state with means but yet your workers REFUSE to help.

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Crystal,

A BGE representative will use the email address you provided for this blog to contact you directly.

I live in the Graystone development in bowie. It is day five without power. Every time I call I am told a different story. Yesterday I was told that the next available crew would come to my area to ACCESS THE PROBLEM!!! Which means no crew was ever sent!!!!!

This AM I am being told the same lie! Our lines are under ground. We have no downed trees or wires down. We loose power on sunny days for no reason. Your customer service is a joke! Everyone who is responsible for executing repairs should be fired!

You need to rehire all the technicians you have downsized recently so that we do not have to wait five days for a crew to get here to help you fix your poor utility lines.

Your service and lack thereof is deplorable!!!

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Janice in Bowie,

We know customers have decisions to make and would like an estimated time when their service will be restored. However, in many cases, when crews arrive on the scene they encounter significantly more damage than previously reported. There are often hidden issues, such as situations where we find damage to a line that serves a single customer or small group of customers, after we've fixed the feeder that we expected to restore service to their area.

We are working to provide customers with restoration estimates in situations where we have identified the problem and have high confidence that repairs can be completed in a timely fashion. In those instances, we will provide an estimated time of restoration.

We will keep customers updated as much as possible as restoration efforts progress.

I can appreciate the hard work you are doing to restore the power. Once it is completed IT IS TIME TO PUT THE POWER LINES UNDERGROUND! It is shameful that the electricity infrastructure specifically in the Baltimore/Washington metro area is like a THIRD WORLD COUNTRY!

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Keith,

This is a comment we receive from many customers. Since 1970, all new construction has been served by underground lines. While we have about 9,000 miles of overhead power lines, we also have about 15,000 miles of underground electrical lines throughout the BGE service area. Over the years, extensive analysis has been conducted regarding the costs associated with burying legacy overhead power lines. The consensus is that the costs to ratepayers would be much too high. While buried lines are extremely reliable, they are not invulnerable to storm damage, including lightning strikes. When underground lines are damaged, they take much longer to repair than overhead lines. We have actually found that tree trimming programs can be highly effective in minimizing outages. Customers typically experience 57 percent fewer tree-related power interruptions in areas that have been recently trimmed.

After 3 long days of no power, my street was finally restored yesterday evening. I called BGE three seperate times yesterday and received three different answers. I remember snapping at the first customer service rep out of frustration and then apologizing to her because I know she is not the cause of the outage. In all of our frustrations, sometimes we forget the human side of the matter. Though very inconvenienced, thank you BGE for your response and to all the crews out there who are working 16 plus hours in that unbearable heat to make us all "comfortable" THANK YOU!!

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DavidAntMatt,

Thank you for taking the time to write. You’re so right – frustration sometimes causes us to forget the “human side” of matters. Thank you for remembering – and for the “THANK YOU!!”

You guys are the worst. Everyone around us has power but because there are only 11 of us on the grid, we are considered low priority. What if you try living with several pets, many of them older, in 90+ degree heat and humidity? I'm quite sure you wouldn't want to be "low priority". Perhaps you can instruct the trucks that are just hanging out in parking lots to get busy and get to work. Everytime I have seen a BGE truck they are doing nothing. This is totally unacceptable! Stop taking time to send out press releases that say you are working very hard and fix the electricity!

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Beth,

In fact, the 3,300 utility workers are working exceptionally hard, under extremely difficult conditions. Most are working at least 16 hours every day in 100-degree heat to restore power to our customers. We can assure you that none of our customers are a “low priority.” The magnitude of the storm means that it will take time to restore everyone’s service. We know that is frustrating and not the answer you want to hear, but with the added out-of-town resources we expect to make good progress over the next few days.

I don't have electricity yet and may not have it until this weekend. I want thank all the BGE workers out in the field working day and night to help each and every person get restored service. I hope they stay hydrated, fed, and safe. Instead of customer's complaining, they should be thankful they are alive and healthy; and, they should realize they are not the only ones affected by the outage. My daughter had surgery Friday morning and we had to move her around twice until we found a stable home that had power and water. That put her recovery on a downslide, but thankfully she is back on the upswing. I will be happy once I am back in our own home, but in the meantime, I'm happy I have good friends that were willing to take us in and help us find comfort.

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Becca,

Thanks for your feedback.

BG&E's outage map is virtually worthless. Take a look at outage maps at PEPCO & other utility companies. You can zoom in to neighborhoods & streets to get info for that particular area. You should be ashamed of that antiquated garbage of a map!

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Steve,

Our outage map is intended to allow customers to see the steady progress taking place across the entire system – in every community across our service territory. We appreciate your suggestion and are constantly evaluating new technologies and better ways to keep our customers informed of outages in their area.

Well into day 4 without power, the folks across the street are restored. Ohio and Pennsylvania were posting 95% restoration from the same storm YESTERDAY! And here we sit. I was told last night by a BGE rep that the problem that keep us powerless had been identified, but no crew had been assigned to work on it. You have us over a barrel because you are the only utility that services my community. You chopped down the trees to show you'd take storm preparation seriously. And here we sit. It is extremely expensive to be without power, yet BGE doesn't offer any restitution because you can't help nature. But Ohio and Pennsylvania seem to be able to correct damages faster.

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Kathleen,

There are more than 2,200 utility workers, including over 1,300 BGE personnel and approximately 900 out-of-state utility workers actively working to restore power in central Maryland. High winds brought down whole trees and tree limbs onto power lines and electrical equipment, causing widespread outages. The challenge with such severe damage is that after surveying a site and creating job ticket, crews are still discovering even more damage further down the system that affects restoration times. Our employees and workers from 15 states and Canada are working hard around-the-clock to restore service as quickly as possible.

Steady progress? You mean, like electricity restored for a few hours, 48 hours after it went down, then taken down again with no estimate when it will be restored?

Or, do you mean the placement of a detour cone or yellow caution tape where trees are down in the street, several days before tree removal?

Or, do you mean consistent progress like restoring traffic signals for a day, then taking them down again?

You keep using that word, "progress." I do not think it means what you think it means.

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Christine,

Following the storm, 680,000 customers lost power – almost 90 percent of those who lost power during Hurricane Irene. Today there are fewer than 150,000 customers out of service – meaning that we have restored power more than 500,000 customers. Those who are still out of power are understandable frustrated, but our crews have done a commendable job, working non-stop under extremely difficult conditions – including searing heat – to restore power to our customers.

Reposting this in current blog post because you did not post it yesterday:

While I appreciate the communication effort you are putting forth in this blog it is not the way you should be directing your efforts. More transparency should be involved regarding the restoration efforts. BGE should display the work queue in real time that way customers can see how far away their job is from being completed. Although the excuse that giving an ETR is too challenging given the circumstances is unacceptable, displaying the crew work queue list would be an alternative. Complete transparancy is better than disinformation.

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Patrick,

Displaying the work queue list as an alternative way of communicating ETRs to customers is a valuable suggestion. Thank you.

Is BGE going to reimburse me or provide a grocery voucher because of the food I have to throw away because they could not restore my power in a timely manner?

My power has been out since Friday night and to date has yet to be restore. I live in Bowie MD 20716 and I received an ERT of 07/05/12.

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Christina,

We do 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. http://1.usa.gov/106LU

We thank our customers, employees and the community for your patience and perseverance during this ongoing restoration process.

I talked to a BGE rep last night trying to find an estimate on the repair time and was told they couldn't give one because BGE was waiting on a tree service to remove trees/branches from the down lines and poles before BGE could get in there and fix the lines and the poles.
To bad BGE did away with their tree clearing service, they wouldn't have to wait on subcontactors to get done.

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Joe,

BGE works daily to maintain and upgrade our electric lines. To help ensure the safety and reliability of our more than 10,500 miles of overhead transmission and distribution power lines, we perform extensive tree pruning and removals through our Tree and Vegetation Management Program (http://www.bge.com/TreeCare).

there is a transformer or fuses or maybe even the pole that needs to be replaced on baltimore national pike {route 40 ellicott city 21043 by browns motel.} when is anyone coming its been 4 days? first i heard 2 days then 3 days now thay said they need flaggers to indentify the wires then it will be fixed ..

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Tina,

Thank you. We are aware of the damage and are working to correct it as safely and quickly as possible.

Friday night called the automated system and was told that our address was registered and outage reported. Today, July 3 my neighbor spoke to an actual person at BGE and was told that no outages had been reported on our street. Everyone around us has power so it is frustrating to get a response like that. I have started to call every hour on the automated response to report our address. I have no idea if BGE really knows that we do not have power. More than very frustrating

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Robbin,

We’ve received this comment/question from several customers. It’s difficult to be in the dark when your neighbors have power. Many neighborhoods have several different feeders which causes some portions of the same neighborhood to be restored at different times. If you reported your outage by calling 1.877.778.2222 we have it recorded and you only need to report your outage once.

Hopefully the out of state workers are non-union. That should speed things up drastically.

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Ron,

Thank you for your comment. BGE is one of only a handful of non-union utilities in the country.

You must think we are total fools. Your crew working locations are bogus. You have simply listed all of the ares with outages. I have been all over the PG portion of Laurel..There are no work crews. Still waiting in south Laurel!

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Stev,

We have 3,500 dedicated utility workers out in the field working hard to restore service to every customer. Your frustration is understandable, especially during a time with such high temperatures.

I met Magic Mike in person last night in one of those BGE trucks that turned the power back on in Severna Park. Although he was losing his hair, had a post belly, and was chewing a cigar he was the most attractive man I've seen in a long time. I slipped a $20 in his tool belt. And the sound of rejoicing went up from the town of Severna Park! The unkempt and slightly body oderific people danced and sang in the streets that they could now bathe, find their deodorent and shave tehir legs!

Jeannette,

Do you have power at your house?

How about for future "epic events" all BGE employees have their power turned off until every last customer is restored?

Maybe then BGE management will start to understand they need to completely overhaul how they deal with 'epic' storm events.

By the way, how often can we have 'epic' storms before BGE admits they are just normal weather patterns?

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Lindsay S.,

Many BGE employees are working tirelessly, in often difficult circumstances to restore power as quickly and safely as possible to all of our customers. Many of those same employees are also BGE customers who may be without power at home as the restoration process continues.

This is ridiculous. I am glad you were able to get an ETR. When I called, I was told that a construction crew was being assembled to work on my neighborhood and that a time frame of when power will be restored is not available. What the heck??? Why hasn't the construction crew been assembled and out working in the neighborhood. Unacceptable. I will be in contact with the PSC and other elected officials. This is awful. Luckily, I have family in the area but my pets are still in my home. I have to go home twice a day to make sure they are okay. It is sweltering inside and outside. I mean just crazy. To be without power for a week is unacceptable.

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Tamara,

Restoration priorities begin with public safety issues and critical facilities like 911 centers, hospitals, and pumping stations; followed by restoration jobs that will restore the greatest number of customers as possible at one time; during an extended outage consideration is also given to customers who’ve been without service the longest. For work that requires multiple crews with different skill, each crew begins its work as soon as the crew before them has completed their part of the job, resulting in the most efficient approach to restoration. All available BGE crews as well as those from 15 other states are actively working on restoration efforts in central Maryland.

While I can appreciate the magnitude of the storm, I believe how you prioritize who you restore in the order that it is done should be reevaluated. Most of us in rural Anne Arundel county are on well water. You do understand that though you can restore power in bulk numbers to the cities,that they seldom go without water. You should take this into account on folks who have no water which equates to the basic necessities of life and hygiene. We cannot use toilets,which to me is unacceptable. Please consider this when restoring folks power outages. Those on municipal water should take a backseat in the pecking order.
Scorr

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Scott,

It is important to remember that critical facilities such as 911 centers, hospitals, and pumping stations take top priority as aloes of power in these facilities pose a significant public safety issue. We understand some customer frustration regarding restoration priorities and are working to restore power to all customers as quickly as possible. We appreciate your feedback as we analyze storm restoration operations to understand where we can improvements for the future.

I know that it takes time to restore power and patience is definitely a virtue in a time like this. However, what I do not understand is how you can give a date on the automated system as to when power will be restored and then nothing happens. I was given two different dates when my power would be restored and each time nothing. This was very upsetting to say the least. Will there be any compensation for lost of food???

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Mike H.,

In a severe storm of this magnitude, estimated times for restoration have a high probability of being incorrect and slipping as new conditions and related jobs prolong restoration. We apologize that you received ETRs that did not prove accurate, but understand that we are working extremely hard to restore service in the aftermath of this weekend’s violent storms.

We do 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. http://1.usa.gov/106LU

Jennett,

Where can I go to get an Estimated time of repair for my area. I need to make plans and wonder if there is a place on your web site that could give me and idea of when my area will be worked on.

Cassandra

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Cassandra,

Unfortunately we have not been able to provide accurate estimated times of restoration due to the widespread damages. While we know that not having an estimate makes it difficult to plan, we also know that inaccurate estimates or shifting timelines can compound the frustration and inconvenience further. Thank you for your patience and please know we are working to get you back online as soon as we safely can.

I have to agree with Chris that restoration is not as effecienent as it could be.
I live in Gwynn Oak, our power was restored for 2 hours on yesterday to be knock out again by a blown fuse. They know where the problem is; but 6 crew members sit around for 3.5 hours to tell us they can't work after Dawkins. Furthermore, I call and get lip service
I about what they are doing. Why can't we in Gwynn Oak get our job completed, instead of passing it off department by department; someone can make the decision to dispatch the needed resources to resolve this issue. I don't want to this it is a social economic issue.
WE NNE POWER NOW!!!

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Mike,

Thanks for your patience and understanding during this restoration process, please be assured we are working as quickly and safely as possible to restore all customers’ power.

According to your website, BGE has eight restoration priorities. After 4 days work which priority level is now the focus of most restoration work?

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Steve,

We continue to make significant strides in restoring the secondary lines that provide electricity to our customers, which could not be repaired until our distribution backbone and related equipment were back in service. We believe the restoration effort will continue through the weekend as the groups of customers restored will become increasingly smaller as we complete each repair. While the dangerous and complex nature of the remaining repairs makes it extremely difficult for us to pinpoint when we will have all of our customers back in service, we are making every effort to provide customers with restoration estimates in the limited instances where we have identified the problem and have high confidence that repairs can be completed within that timeframe.

I've been without power since Friday night and yes, it's hot and frustrating (particularly when the neighbors across the street...obviously on a different part of the grid...have had uninterrupted service). I hate to sound like little Miss Goody Two Shoes, but this really is a first-world problem. We've still got clean running water, access to air-conditioned locations, safe food. I can't believe that BGE isn't working as hard as it can to restore power...for one thing, they can't enjoy reading these angry posts...

I am curious though...power at our house seems to go out often. We'll frequently come home from work to see that the power's been out while we were gone. Usually only for short times but still...frequent. And we seem to lose power during thunderstorms far more often than our neighbors across the street...usually after a loud explosion sort of sound. (I always think "Oh, the transformer's blown"...though I have no idea if that's what it is.)

Is it possible that our section of the grid is particularly vulberable somehow? Would it be worth calling BGE to talk about after the storm clean-up has passed?

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Sarah R.,

We really do appreciate your comments and understanding and we know this has been hard on our customers. You make a good suggestion to follow up with us again once this restoration is complete to review your reliability history and determine if there is an issue with the equipment or design of the system serving you. Once again, thanks.

I really don't know how efficient or inefficient BGE is compared to other utilities, but I do know that much of this mess could have been prevented if all possible overhead power lines were buried. This sad situation will continue to happen until legislators require BGE to bury the power line. The ratepayers will have to be willing to pay for it. If not, expect more of the same.

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Steve,

Undergrounding lines sounds like a good solution, but it’s not that simple. Since 1970, all new construction has been served by underground lines. While we have about 9,000 miles of overhead power lines, we also have about 15,000 miles of underground electrical lines throughout the BGE service area. Over the years, extensive analysis has been conducted regarding the costs associated with burying legacy overhead power lines. The consensus is that the costs to ratepayers would be much too high. While buried lines are extremely reliable, they are not invulnerable to storm damage, including lightning strikes. When underground lines are damaged, they take much longer to repair than overhead lines.

We do thank for all hard working crews who work in hot weather, may spend their 7/4 holiday restoring our electricity. What most frustrating is the efforts from BGE to do preventative measures. We live in Ellicott city, always lost power whenever the storms, or heavy snow. Last time, Hurricane irene caused more than one week outage, now four days already. There were some tree cutting early this year, but from the result, not helpful at all, we are out again. If BGE does a better job on systematically improve the safety of their lines, it probably will save more money in the long run and won't get blamed every time. Come on, company leaders, wake up, don't always try to restore, but prevent it.

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Henry,

BGE works year-round to maintain and upgrade our electric lines. To help ensure the safety and reliability of our overhead transmission and distribution power lines, we perform extensive tree pruning and removals through our Tree and Vegetation Management Program. We’re working to enhance this already robust program through the application of new regulations required by the Maryland Public Service Commission. In addition, we are constantly inspecting and upgrading our overhead equipment to further identify preventative measures we can take to prevent outages. We appreciate your patience as crews work to restore power to all of our customers.

Every time I called BGE, which has been every hour since the storm hit, I have been told that they are waiting for out of town construction crews. If they are here, why aren't they working to get power restored? My family and my neighbors have been without power since Frinday, June 30, 2012. Today is now July 3, 2012. BEing told that it could take until the weekend. Crazy!!!!! Yes. IF they have workers from out of state, it shouldn't take this long to get the problem solved. I gurantee the customers will be paying for this mess within 6 months. Tax hikes,etc..... BGE is a joke.

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Lisa Brown,

As a result of Friday’s storm, BGE’s system has sustained significant damage including downed tree limbs and whole trees on power lines and other electric distribution equipment that will have to be removed before repair crews can begin the process of installing or repairing utility poles, wires and other equipment. This process is very time consuming and labor intensive. While BGE is currently assessing damage and aggressively restoring service to customers throughout central Maryland, the company expects restoration activities to extend over the next several days. We appreciate your patience as we work as quickly as possible o restore power to all customers.

There is a large outage in northern Carroll County that has had no repair efforts. I cannot seem to get an ETR. Has work for this outage been scheduled? Up here, no power also means no water for drinking, showers, or flushing.

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Chris,

Normally, when scheduled work or minor damage to our system occurs, we can provide an estimated time of restoration (ETR) within a reasonable time. With a large scale storm such as the one we experienced on Friday, restoration times are harder to predict. To learn more about where our crews will be and when, please visit http://www.bge.com/customerservice/stormsoutages/stormcenter/pages/crew-work-locations.aspx to review a list of areas where crews will be working throughout the day. Please note, we may also perform work at locations not shown. Thank you for your patience as crews continue to work across the BGE territory until all customers have been restored.

I am extremely disheartened that I have been without power since Friday evening. I have called every single day to get an outage update and have not been able to reach a live person NOR an automated update. Whenever I put my street address in the automated system, it says my outage has been reported! It has been 'reported' since Friday. Neighborhoods surrounding mine and in the same zip code have power!!! What is going on? I need some answers. I am displaced from my home and I should at least have the courtesy of knowing WHEN I can expect power to be restored.

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Kynnee G,

The challenge with a severe storm, like the one we experienced on Friday, is that it is much more difficult to predict an estimated time of restoration (ETR).
Even after outages have been identified and job tickets created, crews may still discover more damage further down the system, which pushes back restoration times. While we understand your frustration in seeing other houses in your area with power, many neighborhoods and zip codes have several different feeders which causes some portions of the same neighborhood to be restored at different times. Please know that we are working very hard to restore power to all of our customers as quickly as possible.

My father's 89 years and 7 month old, a hospice patient and has Alz. disease. Please, just abt all my neighbors in Berrywood have been connected. You ALWAYS forget about the three homes on Franwill Court (183). Please, connect us.
Joann Perkins Brenner

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Joann,

We know this outage has been very difficult for families. Please know that we have not forgotten about you. We will keep working diligently until all customers are restored.

Jeanette,

I don't understand why it is taking so long for a tree to be removed before BGE repairs/install a pole and then replace wires. A BGE representative told us on Sunday the power would be restored by 10:00 p.m. It is now Tuesday, and still we are without power! You certainly can understand the frustration of not having the convenience of electricial power or can you? The extreme temperatures are unbearable and unhealthy. BGE should at least give a more realistic estimation other than the generic response "your area has been reported". If more than 500,000 customers power have been restored, then BGE should have more resources available to restore the remaining 100,000 customers with no power. It now seems like the restoration efforts are slowing down rather than escalating. How can this be?

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Walter,

We apologize if you were misinformed about the time of restoration – that is very frustrating. We have been very cautious about providing ETRs because the nature of these repairs makes it difficult to give accurate information. We are working diligently to restore the remaining 142,000 customer who are out of service.

I wanted to pass along some frustration my Mt. Washington neighbors are having. When they call to get more info. on the outage (we have been out since Friday evening)...they are being told by the BGE rep. that the outage has never been reported? This has happened time and time again over the last 4 days. I am at work now, but understand there are still a lot of outages in the Mt. Washington area, 21209...including myself on Gernand Road. There seems to be a lot of incorrect information floating around.

I have family that has worked in the gas and eletric business for a combined 50 years even they agree that BGE is and has never been well prepaired for any kind of significant power outage. Its a shame that BGE will claim they are doing everything the can to restore power when the truth is they are NOT! Maine 1995 over 1.5 million people out of power in a horrible winter storm, a week and a half all power was restored. This is not nearly as bad as that and they cant get it right! I have a newborn and a 2 year old, we have been forced out of our condo when the condo next to us has power! how can that happen? I will file a formal complaint against BGE and I anticipate I will be refunded all hotel expenses along will all food loss in my house. I bet you any anount of money all high ranking officials of BGE are not out of power! I bet Ms. Mills is not out of power! Shame on you BGE, you raise out eletric prices and then when time comes to fix a problem you FAIL!!

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Scott,

As someone with family in the industry, you know how hard they work and we appreciate their service. Our crews, 3,500 personnel in all, have been working round the clock since Saturday night and have restored more than 500,000 customers by Tuesday afternoon and will not stop until every last customer is restored.

Here's what I don't understand - on Saturday afternoon the automated system gave me an ETR of 9:30 pm. At 9:30 it gave me an ETR of 2:30 am Sunday. Since Sunday all I get is "we're working to restore power as soon as possible." This really doesn't seem to make any sense.

Would also like to know why, per the map, the counties seem to have much more of their power restored than we in the city do.

Thank you.

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Lucy,

We have been very cautious about providing ETRs because the nature of these repairs makes it difficult to give accurate information. We’re very sorry that you received a shifting ETR. With regard to the pace of restorations in different geographic areas, they are taking place in a balanced fashion to ensure field personnel are addressing outages in each and every county and city where BGE has customers.

I looked to see where your crews would be workink at today and I saw randallstown on the list yesterday. the power is still out in randallstown today. How long does it take a crew to restore power to a area as populated as Randallstown Md. This is getting ridiculous.

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Gerald,

Today we added even more crews to restore service in areas such as Randallstown after completing the repair of our major feeder and substation system. We know you have been patient and we’re working hard to restore the power safely. Thank you.

So... Like many of the others, it is very frustrating and even moreso our power came on last night around midnight and has since went off. We heard a pop this morning and that was that. Not even 9 hours later so again we had to call back in and everything around our block is on except our power.

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Confused,

If the outage you experienced on was not immediately related to the thunderstorms in the area, it may have been the result of equipment that was damaged during the initial storm but which did not fail until later. It’s difficult to be in the dark when your neighbors have power. First we'd like to confirm that you have reported your outage by calling 1.877.778.2222. Many neighborhoods have several different feeders which causes some portions of the same neighborhood to be restored at different times.

10 months ago we went without power for 10 days due to a hurricane. Now it seems here we are again! What's the problem BGE? I believe that this is truly unacceptable. Can I expect at the very least 4 months of FREE electricity? BGE SHOULD BE ASHAMED THAT A THUNDER STORM CREATED MORE HAVOC THAN A HURRICANE!!!

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Susan Shaw,

This was not a typical summer thunderstorms. The violent storms left hurricane-size destruction across Maryland. About 680,000 customers in eight counties and Baltimore City lost power since the start of the storms, or about 90 percent of the total number of outages caused by Hurricane Irene last year. Our crews, aided by many out-of-state workers, will continue to work around-the-clock to restore customer's power as soon as possible.

While a lot of people on here complaining and suggesting answers there is one thing your forgetting. There are thousands of people who left their homes and families to come help you. I live in Rhode Island and I have family that left here Sunday to come help. Now I know they get paid well but what about their kids and wives or husbands that are left home during our own storms while their there. So tomorrow on Fourth Of July while I know you'll all be hot and angry you will at least be around family. I will be here without some of my family. Maybe they will be around your corner. If you could please tell them Happy Fourth from their family up in Rhode Island. Please be patient and know when these big storms come through they affect everybody not just the people that were hit directly.

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Kevin,

Thank you for your message. You are absolutely right – the sacrifice of the individuals who, as part of mutual assistance, come to the aid of utilities in need is extraordinary. Given the amount of damage, these crews members may not see their families for many, many days. Not to mention that the fact that they are working in stifling heat for many hours each day. On behalf of BGE, we appreciate your family members coming to help both us and our customers.

I tweet a question to get an ETR for my area, you responded to everyone and I still have yet to hear back, the whole block has service except for our area. This is just plain terrible and your company is way to big and has too many resources to be ill prepared. People have lost food and have sick family members and its really sad that it is 5 days almost going in. I agree with Eric and you folks need to do a better job. Sad!!!!

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Chelsea,

Approximately 4,000 utility workers, including more than 2,700 BGE personnel and approximately 1,300 out-of-state utility workers have been working round-the-clock to repair the extensive, severe damage. The volume of outages has been comparable to a hurricane, but the weather system provided no opportunity to pre-mobilize like we do for hurricanes. We know this has been hard on customers and we, like all utilities in the path of the storm have been working through this extended recovery.

I was just wondering why the restoration process can't be more transparent. I want to believe BGE would lay out a restoration plan specifically mapped out after a disaster strikes & the damages evaluated. I know the BGE's priority in words as listed on the website but it would be great for BGE to share the specific/detailed resotration plan with all your customers so we can all prepare and adjust life accordingly. I won't have any problem if informed my power will be restored on the third or fourth or even fifth day as long as there is plan that everyone can see. I understand damages in certain araes could be bigger than expected so there is no way to ask your crews to stick to the plan. However, the plan (updated daily?) can also show the process of the resotration efforts done by BGE so people would realize where the repair works have been done and apprciate how much efforts BGE has put in in certain tough locations. It's very frastrating to hear a message from BGE saying 90% of power to be restored by friday becuase it doesn't mean anything to us. As a father of two very young children I need to plan ahead, need to know when their daycare place would reopen & when I need to stay in a hotel instead of guessing if today is the last day without power. Making the restoration plan public would only help BGE in a way you would have less customer service reps dealing with frstarted customers and improve BGE's image as a company we all can depend on.

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WEI,

We appreciate your suggestion and are constantly evaluating new technologies and better ways to keep our customers informed.

To learn more about where our crews will be and when, customers are encouraged to visit bge.com to review a list of areas where crews will be working throughout the day:
http://www.bge.com/customerservice/stormsoutages/stormcenter/pages/crew-work-locations.aspx
Please note – we may also perform work at locations not shown on this list. Crews will continue to work across our territory until all our customers have been restored.

This is 2012, you know where the outages are. You say you have all this help...where? I haven't seen any in the Milford Mill area. The outage map is a joke. Stop talking about your 'restoration efforts', and acting shocked a storm could hit Md.
My building is on day 4 no electric...the WHOLE complex has electricity but my building and the building across the street.
ALL BGE says is "pending" they know what it is, they have no idea when a crew is going to fix it...but they fixed the whole complex? And you couldn't fix our building? Hmmmm....Other states can get it together, you should too.

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Jenn,

Today, nearly 4,000 field and support forces, including nearly 1,300 out-of-state utility workers, will continue to restore power to customers who are still without service. We know that being without power several days following a storm is frustrating and concerning. Please hang in there – we want more than anything to restore everyone's power as soon as possible.

Our power has been out for a few days, there are only 2 houses on the street without power, i was told that a crew came out to asses the outage and did not make a repair. I'm no electrician but i know what a broken wire looks like along with the insulator that is burnt and laying on the ground. i have called several times a day and all i keep hearing that they have no idea when the power will be fixed. I don't understand why it wasn't repaired when the crew looked at it.

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Dallas,

We know that it’s difficult to be in the dark when your neighbors have power. Restoration priorities are as follows: public safety issues and critical facilities like 911 centers, hospitals, and pumping stations; followed by the jobs that will restore the greatest number of customers as possible and neighborhood restoration.

Sherwood Forest - Anne Arundel County - 146 Friar Tuck Hill--- STILL NO POWER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!