Central Maine Power Co.’s former vice president of customer service is taking over as president, effective immediately, the company announced Monday.

Linda Ball, who had served in her previous role since 2019, succeeds Joe Purington, who became CEO of Avangrid Networks, which oversees parent company Avangrid’s utility subsidiaries in New York and New England, in July.

CMP is Maine’s biggest electric utility and serves roughly 660,000 customers in southern and central parts of the state.

In her previous role, Ball helped expand the utility’s customer service teams and led storm recovery efforts, including during a nor’easter that knocked out power for nearly 350,000 customers last year, the company said.

“I started my career helping customers one-on-one, and that experience has shaped every step of my professional life,” Ball said in a written statement.

Ball began working in utilities more than three decades ago at New York State Electric and Gas, one of CMP’s sister companies, and she relocated to Maine in 2012, CMP said in its announcement.

“Her operational insight and dedication to serving communities will be invaluable to CMP’s ongoing efforts to strengthen our grid’s resilience against extreme weather,” Purington said in a written statement.

Ball will oversee CMP as it seeks approval of a five-year plan to expand its workforce and increase its revenue by more than $400 million. Details of that plan, announced in July, are expected to be filed with the Public Utilities Commission this month.

“As we face increasingly severe storms and growing energy demands, continuing to invest in Maine’s energy grid is more critical than ever for resilience, reliability, and 21st century modernization,” Ball said. “Our momentum making smart, targeted investments that strengthen our energy infrastructure will allow us to continue to deliver safe, dependable power for future generations of Mainers.”