Unitil : Majority of Customers to Have Power Restored by Saturday

Unitil Corporation, (Unitil.com), a provider of electricity and natural gas to customers in New England, expects to have power restored to the majority of customers by noontime on Saturday following this week's multi-day spring nor'easter.

As of 10:15 a.m., approximately 5,780 customers in New Hampshire remained without power, down from a peak of 21,888 customers who lost power around 8 a.m. on Thursday.

"Our crews encountered significant damage in many locations, but conditions have improved today and they're continuing to make additional progress and will be working around the clock until power is restored for all customers," Unitil External Affairs Director Alec O'Meara said. "While we anticipate that most of our impacted customers will get their power back on Saturday, we expect that it will take longer for some customers in isolated pockets where damage was more extensive and those who may be experiencing single service issues. We appreciate the patience of all of our customers during this challenging multi-day restoration process."

A complete town-by-town breakdown of outages with updated estimated restoration times can be found on Unitil's outage map at unitil.com/map.

Customers who remain without power after their neighbors have been restored are urged to call Unitil customer service and report the outage again. Some of these customers may have service issues specific to their home and will require work by a private electrician before restoration can be completed. Once the work is complete, customers should call customer service so a crew can return and complete repairs.

Customers are reminded that in the event of downed wires, they should assume all cables and wires that have fallen or dangling are energized and stay away. Be sure to avoid wet ground or puddles near a downed line because water conducts electricity. In addition, keep away from all flooded and debris laden areas because they may be hiding downed lines. Stay in a safe place and avoid driving in damaged areas so you don't interfere with rescue and restoration efforts.

Unitil is communicating throughout the event through Public Service Announcements (PSAs), our website, our customer call center and through the media. We also encourage customers to follow along with our storm updates via Facebook, our Twitter feed (@Unitil) and we will be providing real-time outage information online at unitil.com/map.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR MEDIA:

Unitil asks that when reporting outage information, outlets time stamp the information. Outage numbers change hourly and we wish to make sure the information customers receive is consistent and understandable. Re-Tweets and re-posting of old information without referencing a time can create confusion.

Customers experiencing outages should call 1-888-301-7700 or report online at unitil.com/report-outage.