Since rejoining Central Maine Power eight months ago I have watched our dedicated team respond to three major storms: a vicious snow and wind storm in April that caused 280,000 power outages, Tropical Storm Isaias in August that caused over 100,000 outages, and another wind event in October that caused 145,000 outages. In each instance we restored over 100,000 customers in a day in record recovery efforts.

In January 1998 when the worst ice storm in Maine’s history caused more than 415,000 outages, it took 23 days of incredible effort to get the lights back on for all customers, many of whom lost power more than once as ice-coated trees fell on our system for days.

CMP was joined by nearly 2,000 utility and tree crews and contractors, many from out of state. A North Carolina team flew into the former Brunswick Naval Air Station on a military transport plane, bucket trucks and all. Vice President Al Gore visited. System repairs went well into April and we replaced 3,000 poles, 2,000 transformers and a million feet of wire. If we ever have a disaster of that magnitude again, it would be a mistake to underestimate the challenge.

But a lot has changed at CMP as we carry out our mission to provide safe, reliable power. With climate change, we understand storms will be more damaging and more frequent so here, in Fall 2020, storm preparedness is top of mind.

By focusing year-round on preparedness, system hardening, and storm response practices CMP has met or exceeded the state’s standards for reliability of service for the past 10 years. We have better planning and organizational management during events and better communications, mapping and equipment to address storms. We have invested about $3 billion of shareholder funds into our infrastructure over the past decade.

Whereas line crews never used to travel out of their home districts, we now plan before storms to position crews around the state where they are most going to be needed. We secure the availability of contract crews ahead of time. We have a formal storm logistics planning function responsible for food and lodging for both CMP and outside crews so that we can maximize their time in the field. Lineworkers work a strict 17 hours with seven hours of rest to ensure safety. All of these activities allow us to restore power more quickly.

CMP conducts drills, after-action reporting and year-round training to ensure we are always learning from one storm to another. We have improved our communication with County and local Emergency Management Agency officials so that we understand local priorities during a storm. During the April storm, CMP was the first utility in the U.S. to stage a major restoration effort with COVID restrictions in place.

Our tools and equipment have also improved. With smart meters, CMP knows where the outages are without customers having to report them.  We replace older utility poles with stronger, taller poles and, where it makes sense, we replace bare wire with coated tree wire to better resist falling branches. The number of outages on a circuit caused by a single incident such as a fallen tree are now, in many areas, managed by switches installed on the circuits allowing us to manage power remotely.

In the most heavily forested state in the country we strictly maintain all tree trimming practices within our rights of way and are currently in the third iteration of a five-year cycle where trees on every single circuit are trimmed.

We must always balance performance with costs to customers.

Many of the out of state line crews who joined us for the 1998 effort wrote to reflect on the generosity and helpful spirit of Maine people who we still see come together when the weather is the common enemy. One Massachusetts crew wrote me, “We never experienced such overwhelming generosity and hospitality in all our careers.”

CMP continues to work as hard as we can year-round to prevent outages, and to restore power as quickly and as safely as we can when Mother Nature has other plans.

David Flanagan is executive chairman of Central Maine Power.

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