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Here's some useful information to help you be better informed and prepared in the event of a power outage.
While Bangor Hydro delivers power over 99.9% of the time, power outages can and do occur for a variety of reasons. Most outages tend to be localized and of short duration. However, if a widespread outage does occur, it will most likely be due to extreme weather conditions. The line work our crews perform is always dangerous and is made more so by working in the midst of extreme weather, often for extended periods of time. Under these circumstances, it is impossible for our line crews to restore power to everyone at once.
Most
power outages occur because power lines are brought down (shorted
to ground) by tree limbs or vehicle accidents. If you see a
downed power line, stay away! Don't touch it or attempt to move
it. If a line falls on your car, stay put until we make sure
it is safe for you to get out.
Call Bangor Hydro's Service Center to report a power outage, downed line or other power emergency at 1-800-440-1111. Customers with Touch-Tone phones can utilize our computerized telephone outage reporting system that will answer your call and also allow you to record your outage. If a special circumstance requires you to speak to our customer representatives, please be patient. During a major outage, we open up additional phone lines and call in extra staff to answer the phones. Even then, our phone lines can sometimes become overloaded. Please keep trying – your call is important and helps us to identify the sources of power outages.
If your home is equipped with an emergency generator, we urge you to ensure that it is safely installed and operated. Improper installation and/or operation can create life-threatening hazards for our crews and for you, for which you can be held liable. Bangor Hydro has prepared a brochure on emergency generator safety. You can download this brochure from our Generator Safety Page or call our Service Center at 1-800-499-6600 to request a copy.
When an outage is reported to our Customer Service Center, our Service Representatives report the outage to our Dispatchers in the line department. During a major outage, while our line crews are at work, we send additional staff to find the sources of each outage and determine what repairs are needed. This allows us to dispatch line crews according to our restoration priority system and with the necessary equipment and resources to complete the repairs. Restoration follows a priority system that targets restoration of the transmission system first (the backbone of our electrical system) then targets emergency services, hospitals and nursing homes. After this, local distribution feeders are repaired based on the number of homes and businesses effected. After notifying our Dispatchers of a power outage, our Customer Service Center receives only periodic updates regarding the status of the restoration work. When the Dispatchers receive updates from the field, they notify the Service Center. We don't ask our lineworkers to continuously provide updates since doing so would slow the restoration work.
During an outage, Bangor Hydro will provide restoration updates to local broadcast stations. Be sure to tune to your local radio station for power restoration and safety updates. Customer
Service Power
Outage
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