March 19, 2024
Annapolis, US 38 F

Statement From BGE On Power Restoration In Central MD

English: A 'transformer bank' on a utility pol...

Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE) announced that as of 7 a.m., it has restored service to 63 percent of its customers, or nearly 410,000, who lost power since Friday evening’s damaging weather system. BGE expects restoration activities to continue into the coming weekend.

More than 2,600 utility workers, including more than 1,400 BGE personnel and nearly 1,200 out-of-state utility workers, are either actively restoring power, or are en route to central Maryland. The out-of-state crews are coming from as far away as Canada (Quebec), New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Florida. BGE’s sister utility, PECO, an Exelon Company based in Philadelphia, is also providing support to the company’s restoration effort.  Customers are reminded to stay informed of restoration progress via bge.comTwitterFacebook and Flickr.

“While BGE and our out-of-state utility partners continue to make progress, it is important that our customers, who we know are growing weary without power, understand we approach restoration in a balanced fashion to ensure field personnel are addressing outages in each and every county and city where BGE has customers,” said Jeannette M. Mills, vice president and chief customer officer for BGE. “BGE works very closely with state and local emergency management agencies and communicates with local and state elected officials to ensure they stay informed of BGE’s progress.  BGE will spare no effort or expense in its round-the-clock restoration activities.”

BGE’s strategic plan for restoring electric service prioritizes outages affecting public safety and critical infrastructure in all parts of its service area, however, the backbone of the utility’s electric distribution system, its 33 kilovolt (kV) power lines, which supply power to substations, sustained significant damage. Those lines must be repaired or replaced before any of the equipment downstream can be repaired. As a result, outage durations have been extended for some customers. Given the scope and magnitude of the damage we’re seeing thus far, we fully anticipate restoration activities to extend into the coming weekend.

BGE’s system has sustained significant damage similar to what one would expect to see during a hurricane or tropical storm, including downed tree limbs and whole trees on power lines and other electric distribution equipment. At the same time, BGE is monitoring additional severe weather throughout the next several days which could result in further power outages.

“While there is no need for customers to report an outage more than once, customers who experience new outages or see downed wires should report them by calling 1-877-778-2222,” said Mills. “As important is the need for our customers to avoid downed power lines, which are still prevalent and can appear de-energized. In that instance, customers should call BGE to report the downed wire itself and stay clear of the wires. BGE thanks its customers for their patience and understanding.”

To check on the status of the outage, please see BGE’s Current Outage page.

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