GMP Crews Make Significant Progress After Storm Knocks Out Power to More than 105,000 Customers, Outages Now down to About 12,800
GMP expects most customers will have power back this weekend, Repairs in Some Remote Areas May Go Into Next Week
COLCHESTER, Vt. – Green Mountain Power’s (GMP) field force of 500 – including both GMP and external line workers and tree crews – made significant progress restoring power to more than 92,500 customers after the Halloween storm caused significant damage statewide. Crews are working around the clock and won’t stop until the last 12,800 customers have power. The storm brought significant winds, rain, and flooding, washing away roads, and today Governor Scott today toured infrastructure damage along with public safety and transportation officials.
“From an outages standpoint, this is the fifth worst storm we’ve ever seen. More than 105,000 customers out at some point during this storm, and we’re still getting new outages because of the widespread damage,” said Mike Burke, GMP’s Chief Field Operations Executive who is urging safety for everyone throughout this storm recovery. “Safety is always our focus and so critical to talk about today because there are still trees and lines down, and everyone needs to assume that the lines are energized and stay away.”
GMP patrolled power lines on Saturday by air, with a chopper flying methodically over miles and miles of infrastructure in southern and central Vermont, looking for damage that’s hard to spot from the ground. Finding it now can prevent larger outages.
“This was a big widespread storm and Londonderry was very hard hit again. All of the emergency services and officials locally are working to get residents the information and resources they need, and GMP has been very responsive and helped us to do that,” said Vermont State Representative Kelly Pejala, of Londonderry.
When a farmer in Chester got his power back Saturday afternoon, he called GMP to say thank you. “He has 50 cows and ten horses that are very happy now, and so is he, because he’s been hauling buckets of water for them. He wanted me to express his thanks to our line crew,” said Mary McGinnis, a GMP Energy Transformation Sales Representative who answers customer calls during storms.
GMP continues to make a lot of progress, and expects most customers will have their power back this weekend, though the widespread damage means repairs for some customers in remote areas may go into next week.
For information about shelters available statewide, you can call 211. GMP has also opened up its district offices in Springfield, Royalton, St, Johnsbury, and Montpelier to customers, for a place to charge their phone, WiFi, or a warm place. For information about shelters available statewide, you can call the state at 211.
For more GMP storm safety tips, and to sign up for text alerts visit the Safety Guide
Report outages and track restoration times in GMP’s online Outage Center
About Green Mountain Power
Green Mountain Power (GMP) serves approximately 265,000 residential and business customers in Vermont and is partnering with them to improve lives and transform communities. GMP is focused on a new way of doing business to meet the needs of customers with integrated energy services that help people use less energy and save money, while continuing to generate clean, cost-effective and reliable power in Vermont. GMP earned a spot on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in the World list three years in a row (2017, 2018, 2019). GMP is the first utility in the world to get a B Corp certification, meeting rigorous social, environmental, accountability and transparency standards and committing to use business as a force for good. J.D. Power’s 2018 and 2019 rankings put GMP among top utilities for customer satisfaction. In 2019, GMP was named “One of the Best Places To Work in Vermont” by Vermont Business Magazine and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, and was the winner of the Deane C. Davis Outstanding Vermont Business of the Year Award.
Kristin Kelly, Green Mountain Power
(802) 318-0872
[email protected]