For Immediate Release
Contact
BGE Communications
BGE Media Hotline: 410-470-7433
Update: July 17, 12 p.m.
As of Sunday morning, BGE has restored 99 percent of customers who were impacted by the severe storm on Tuesday, July 12, and the additional customers who experienced outages caused by the weather system on Saturday, July 16.
BGE is prepared for potential incoming weather on Sunday and Monday.
For customers still without service, the BGE's Mobile Operations Command Center, at the Jacksonville Senior Center, is open until 9 p.m. tonight. Customers can visit to learn more about the extent of the reconstruction necessary in their area and additional details about restoration times.
We appreciate customers' understanding as our team continues to safely restore service. Here are a few reasons why this is happening and additional info on Estimated Time of Restoration (ETRs):
Customers are strongly encouraged to prepare for severe weather.
Preparation Tips:
Safety Tips:
Customers with special needs, such as those who may be elderly, disabled or dependent on electricity for medical equipment or to refrigerate medication, should have alternate arrangements in place should they experience an extended power outage.
To report an outage or downed wire, 1-877-778-2222, or customers can report and track their outage through the company's mobile app or website at bge.com. The company's interactive outage map also provides information about outages across the company's system and gives an estimate of how quickly power is expected to be restored.
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Update: July 16, 4 p.m.
BGE continues working to restore system damage from the severe storms that impacted our area late Tuesday, July 12. We are reporting that 6,638 customers remain out of service, after restoring service to approximately more than 170,000 customers. BGE company crews, along with more than 1,300 additional mutual assistance personnel, continue to work on restoring power.
For customers still without service, the BGE's Mobile Operations Command Center, at the Jacksonville Senior Center, is open until 9 p.m. tonight. It will open again on Sunday, July 17, at 9 a.m. Customers can visit to learn more about the extent of the reconstruction necessary in their area and additional details about restoration times.
We know customers are frustrated about estimated restoration times that may have changed. Here are a few reasons why this is happening and additional info on Estimated Time of Restoration (ETRs):
Update: July 15, 5 p.m.
BGE continues working to restore system damage from the severe storms that impacted our area late Tuesday, July 12. We are reporting that 15,335 customers remain out of service, after restoring service to approximately 170,212 customers. BGE company crews, along with 1230 additional mutual assistance personnel, continue to work on restoring service and addressing public safety issues.
Due to extensive damage from fallen trees, some equipment may not be accessible and repairs to damaged equipment may take longer than anticipated. While outages continue to decrease, much of the remaining work on the system is extremely labor intensive and time consuming. Once completed, these jobs are likely to restore service to smaller groups of customers at a time – in many cases only a single customer.
A significant amount of equipment damage was caused by large fallen trees and branches.
Trees are down in roads and customers' yards, which in some cases is limiting our crews'access and extending the time it takes to do system repairs.
Replacing a pole can take 6-8 hours and we have multiple jobs with multiple broken poles.
The extent of the damage is significantly more severe than the average storm, increasing the time to restore service and making estimated times of restoration more uncertain and more likely to change.
We have addressed this issue with customers who ask why their ETRs continue to change and want to provide some additional insight.
When we receive an outage notification, ETRs are estimated based on current outages, staffing, and damage. Once crews arrive and visibly assess the damage, the ETR may be changed.
We continually review and may change ETRs to provide the most up-to-date information we have at the time.
Crews may arrive and begin restoration, but they may need to pause for a safety issue and/or may have to call for additional resources, which will impact the ETR.
An ETR can be based on making a repair at one point along a distribution line but will be updated if making that repair does not restore all the expected customers and additional damage is found further along the line closer to customers' homes.
Update: July 15, 11 a.m.
BGE continues to work to restore system damage from the severe storms that impacted our area late Tuesday, July 12. As of 10:30am, we were reporting 18,392 customers remaining out of service, after restoring service to approximately 147,751 customers. BGE company crews, along with 1230 additional mutual assistance personnel, continue to work on restoring service and addressing public safety issues.
We are expecting to restore 90% of customers by tonight. However, due to extensive damage from fallen trees, some equipment may not be accessible and repairs to damaged equipment may take longer than anticipated. While outages continue to decrease, much of the remaining work on the system is extremely labor intensive and time consuming. Once completed, these jobs are likely to restore service to smaller groups of customers at a time – in many cases only a single customer.
Please assume that all wires are energized at lethal voltages. Never assume that a wire is safe to touch or be near. Call BGE at 1-877-778-2222 to report fallen electrical lines, power outages and gas odors. Customers can track the progress of repairs, including the Estimated Time of Restoration (ETR), on the BGE Outage Tracker (bge.com/outagetracker) or through the free BGE Mobile App.
If you or a member of your team is out getting footage, please give BGE crews space and allow them to focus safely on their work.
Update: July 14, 11 p.m.
BGE has restored 90% of customers who were impacted by the severe storm in our service area late Tuesday, July 12.
As of Thursday, July 14 at 11 pm., we have restored over 140,000 customers. The remaining customers are tracking to be potentially restored Friday evening. However, due to extensive damage from fallen trees, some equipment may not be accessible and repairs to damaged equipment may take longer than anticipated.
As a reminder to customers please assume that all wires are energized at lethal voltages. Never assume that a wire is safe to touch or be near. Call BGE at 1-877-778-2222 to report fallen electrical lines, power outages and gas odors. Customers can track the progress of repairs, including the Estimated Time of Restoration (ETR), on the BGE Outage Tracker (www.bge.com/outagetracker) or through the free BGE Mobile App.
Update: July 14, 4 p.m.
BGE continues to work to restore system damage from the severe storms that impacted our area late Tuesday, July 12. As of Thursday, July 14 at 3:30 pm., we have restored over 130,000 customers. BGE company crews, along with 800 additional mutual assistance personnel, continue to work on restoring service and addressing public safety issues.
We are expecting to restore 90% of customers by tonight and the vast majority of the remainder potentially being restored Friday evening. However, due to extensive damage from fallen trees, some equipment may not be accessible and repairs to damaged equipment may take longer than anticipated. Please assume that all wires are energized at lethal voltages. Never assume that a wire is safe to touch or be near. Call BGE at 1-877-778-2222 to report fallen electrical lines, power outages and gas odors. Customers can track the progress of repairs, including the Estimated Time of Restoration (ETR), on the BGE Outage Tracker (www.bge.com/outagetracker) or through the free BGE Mobile App.
Update: July 13, 5 p.m.
BGE continues to work to restore system damage from the severe storms that impacted our area late Tuesday afternoon and into the evening. Due to the widespread damage, more than 800 personnel from other utility companies in multiple states are actively working with BGE to restore power to impacted customers. Crews are staged out of three staging areas at Ripken Field, Timonium Fairgrounds, and BWI Airport.
We are expecting to restore 90% of customers by tomorrow night. However, due to extensive damage from fallen trees, some equipment may not be accessible and repairs to damaged equipment may take longer than anticipated. Please assume that all wires are energized at lethal voltages. Never assume that a wire is safe to touch or be near. Call BGE at 1-877-778-2222 to report fallen electrical lines, power outages and gas odors.
Update: July 13, 11 a.m.
The BGE service territory has experienced significant system damage from the severe storms that impacted our area late Tuesday afternoon and into the evening. BGE prepared employees, including storm and field personnel, in advance of the storm and has fully mobilized our storm response process. Given the extent of the damage, we called and secured 350 personnel through mutual assistance. We are expecting additional crews from Exelon affiliates in Pennsylvania and Illinois. Those crews will be staged out of three staging areas at Ripken Field, Timonium Fairgrounds, and BWI Airport.
Our crews are working to restore power as safely and quickly as possible, as we continue to assess the damage. We are operating with resources from across the organization and are identifying an estimated time of restoration for its customers.
We anticipate the restoration process will be a multi-day event. We ask for their patience as crews work around-the-clock to restore power. Restoration times may not be available in some cases and are based on current conditions and damage.
Update: July 12
The BGE service territory has experienced significant system damage from the severe storms that impacted our area late Tuesday afternoon and into the evening. Our crews are working to restore power as safely and quickly as possible as we continue to assess the damage. In addition to our employees and contractors, crews from other utilities will be assisting with power restoration beginning Wednesday morning. This will be a multi-day event, and we appreciate your patience.
