How Long Will the Power Be Out After Hurricane Irene?

Ahead of the storm, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano noted that, “we do anticipate a significant amount of power outages with this particular storm.” A FEMA Administrator agreed, saying that strong winds and flash flooding were expected to impact those inland as well as along the coast.

With some estimates that over 4 million homes and businesses were without power in the wake of Hurricane Irene across the Eastern Seaboard, we can see that predictions of mass power outages across the region came true for many.

Hurricane Irene Heavily Impacted the Electric Grid

A US Department of Energy report released Monday morning collected data from utilities outage information and helped give us an overall view of the impact of Hurricane Irene:

Rhode Island 64% of customers out
Connecticut 44% of customers out
Maryland 22% of customers out
New Jersey 20% of customers out
New Hampshire 20% of customers out
Massachusetts 19% of customers out
Virginia 19% of customers out
New York 12% of customers out

Please continue to report outages utility systems can locate generalized outages, but it can be difficult to pinpoint specific outage locations. To find contact information for your utility, see our list here.

When Will My Power Be Back On? How Many People are Still Out?

Philadelphia: 225,000 were without power in Eastern Pennsylvania on Monday, according to PECO. Bucks County reports 81,000 outages; Delaware County 64,000; Chester County 57,000; Montgomery County 14,000; and Philadelphia County 9,000 outages. PECO says theyve already restored power to 300,000 customers and that 90% of the remaining outages should be repaired by Today. The remainder can expect their power to be back on before the weekend. SEPTA reports having three train routes out: Cynwyd, Trenton, and Paoli/Malvern. The Norristown line is reported to have begun running Monday afternoon. UPDATE: PECO now reports 47,000 out of power on Wednesday morning throughout the region.

New York City: More than 106,000 of ConEdisons 3.2 million customers remained without power as of Monday afternoon. ConEdison intentionally cut electricity to some of its service area prior to the storm due to expected saltwater inundation of electrical equipment. ConEdison estimates that most customers in New York City will have power returned by Tuesday and most Westchester County residents should be restored by Thursday. ConEdison is supplying dry ice in several locations to help keep food refrigerated. MTA trains and busses were almost back up to normal by early Monday morning, including the Staten Island Train starting back up Sunday night. UPDATE: 32,000 outages are reported Tuesday evening. ConEdison says 83% of customers have been restored.

Long Island: The Long Island Power Authority said 400,000 customers were without power on Monday. 90% of these homes and businesses can expect to have power by Friday, with the remainder restored by the weekend or early next week, according to a LIPA representative. UPDATE: 190,000 are still out of power on Long Island in Nassau and Suffolk counties, about 16% of all customers. “Irene left behind a level of damage that we have not seen on Long Island in almost 30 years,” the public utility said.

New Jersey: 715,000 utility customers were reportedly without power Monday morning across the state. 60,000 of those being within the PSE&G service territory. Crews with PSE&G are prioritizing downed lines and other emergencies. PSE&G and Jersey Central Power & Light said that rivers must recede before service can be restored. “That takes days,” PSE&G spokeswoman Karen Johnson said. “The flooding is kind of overwhelming.” UPDATE: PSE&G reports 74,000 customers out, about 4% of its 2.1 million customers. Jersey Central Power & Light still shows 187,000 outages about 20% of their 1.1 million customers. “Currently there are 200 poles and almost 40 miles of wire that need to be replaced before we complete our restoration,” said JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano.

Connecticut: 594,000 CL&P customers and 107,000 UI customers were out of power at noon on Monday. Connecticut Light & Power had restored 163,000 customers and a spokesman said that crews had responded to hospitals and police/emergency facilities first. The 770,000 outages at the height of the storm set a new record, breaking the previous record of 477,000 outages after Hurricane Gloria in 1985. Governor Malloy and CL&P officials said that it could be a week before customers get their power back on. “This is just unprecedented,” the utility’s spokesman, David Radanovich, said. “The largest storm we’ve ever faced.” UPDATE: 370,000 utility customers still remain out of power in Connecticut 308,000 of which are CL&P customers. 62,000 United Illuminating customers are out as of Wednesday.

Baltimore: Approximately 139,000 customers within the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE) territory were out of power as of Monday. About 680,000 lost power at some point during Irene, with 466,000 being the highest number of simultaneous outages. BGE has restored power to 327,000 customers in less than 48 hours and expects to restore the majority of the remainder of outages by late Friday. Isolated outages may remain until Saturday. “Just lots of trees down,” said Linda Foy with Baltimore Gas & Electric. “We’ve got whole trees knocked into equipment; large limbs the size of small trees hanging on power lines.” UPDATE: 155,800 outages still exist for BGE customers, as of 6am Wednesday. BGE spokesman Rob Gould told WBAL-TV that most customers should get electricity back on today.

Delmarva Peninsula: 40,000 Delmarva Power customers were reported out of power Monday. At the height of the storm, about 220,000 customers were without power and the company expects to restore power to the majority of these customers by Wednesday. UPDATE: Delmarva Power says that about 5,000 customers are still out of power as of midnight, Wednesday. About 97% of the 164,000 who had lost power have been restored.

Washington DC: 71,000 power outages still exist in the PEPCO service territory as of Monday, including about 16,000 in Montgomery County; 44,000 in Prince Georges County; and 21,000 in Washington D.C. PEPCO said customers can expect power to be on by Thursday evening, but most customers can expect the power to be on sooner. UPDATE: As of Tuesday afternoon, PEPCO reported about 4,000 customers still out in Prince Georges County. “We will be done by Thursday at 7 p.m.,” says Thomas Graham, Pepco president. “All customers will be restored. That’s the goal we’re shooting for. The vast majority of our customers will be restored before then.”

Boston: 500,000 customers in the region lost power at the height of the storm. National Grid reports about 325,000 outages and NStar is reporting 200,000 outages as of Monday afternoon. The damage is so extensive that in many places, we essentially have to re-build the electric system so we can restore power to customers, said Werner Schweiger, NStars senior vice president of operations. Given the sheer amount of work to be done, we know this will be a very time-consuming process. UPDATE: About 108,000 outages still exist in Massachusetts towns according to National Grid on Wednesday. NStar reports 37,000 customers offline in the South Shore and Cape Cod areas.

Virginia: 270,000 customers in the Richmond area were still out of power Monday afternoon. Dominion Virginia Power has said it plans to have 75 percent of customers restored by Today, and 90-95 percent restored by Friday. Remaining outages should be repaired by Saturday. UPDATE: 180,000 in central Virginia remain without power, about 40% of the Richmond and Tri-City areas. 69,501 customers have been restored according to Dominion Virginia Power. Dominion spokesman Chet Wade said that theyre ahead of pace to meet their Friday goal of restoring power to all customers.

Rhode Island: 282,000 National Grid customers in Rhode Island are reportedly in the dark as of Monday Morning. The state was the most heavily impacted by Hurricane Irene, with 64% of customers out of power. UPDEATE: 113,000 were still reported out of power by Wednesday morning. “What you see here is a 24 hour operation with more than 1,000 people restoring power here in Rhode Island. We’re getting customers back as quick as we can,” Tim Horan, President of National Grid.

Vermont: 37,500 of 55,000 Central Vermont Public Service customers were still without electricity as of 7 a.m. Monday morning. We have a tremendous roster of workers to assist us, but this will be one of the most challenging recovery efforts any of us has ever lived through, said Joe Kraus, senior vice president for engineering, operations and customer service. Kraus said that customers should be prepared for extended outages, as roads and bridges in some areas are still impassable. UPDATE: 14,300 customers are still report off the grid as of Wednesday morning.

New Hampshire: 5,300 customers in the New Hampshire Electric Co-op territory were still without power on Monday, down from a high of 32,000 on Sunday night. Estimated restoration times range from noon Tuesday to noon Wednesday. UPDATE: Public Service Co. of New Hampshire reported 29,000 outages at noon on Tuesday, and New Hampshire Electroc Co-op is reporting 1,600 remaining. National Grid is reporting 11 outages, and Unitil has restored all New Hampshire customers.

Maine: 149,000 customers in Maine were reportedly still out of power Monday afternoon, with 137,000 customers of Central Maine Power, and 12,000 Bangor Hydro-Electric customers in the dark. Utility crews from Canada joined Maines own utility crews to help restore power. Maine Public Service customers had all power restored to all customers by late Monday. UPDATE: 44,000 Central Maine Power customers remain out of power Wednesday morning. Bangor Hydro reports less than 270 customers without power.

Sources

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August 31, 2011 in Energy Tips

August 31, 2011