Cause of outages: Trees and limbs are down.
Transmission lines: all are operational
Substations: all are operational
Feeders: all are operational
All Counties
At 2:30 p.m. on October 30, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) had approximately 1,064 customers remaining without power. All transmission lines, substations, and feeders are operational.
The most heavily affected area is St. Mary’s County with 1,008 customers without power. SMECO anticipates restoring service by tonight for all storm related power outages in Calvert, Charles, and Prince George’s counties. With some exceptions that may carry over to mid-day Wednesday, electric service to customer-members in St. Mary’s County should be restored by tonight as well.
From October 29 at 9 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. on October 30, SMECO experienced 905 incidents. An incident is a damage event which can range from a blown transformer to a tree on a line or a broken pole. At 2:30 p.m. today, 62 incidents remain to be repaired. Over the course of the storm, SMECO experienced 41,340 outages: 10,680 in Calvert County, nearly 10,000 in Charles County, more than 2,200 in Prince George’s County, and about 18,460 in St. Mary’s County. SMECO’s system peak number of outages occurred at 8:30 p.m. on Monday, October 29, when a transmission line went down and nearly 11,500 customers were without power at one time.
SMECO’s outage restoration policy is to make repairs that will restore service to the most people in the least amount of time. Transmission lines and substations are repaired first, followed by distribution lines that feed neighborhoods. Tap lines and individual service lines are then repaired to restore power to customers who may still be without electricity.
Customers without power should call SMECO’s Outage Hotline at 1-877-74-SMECO or 1-877-747-6326. Customers are reminded to use generators outdoors, use gas and charcoal grills outdoors, and use flashlights instead of candles. To avoid injury, customers should stay away from downed power lines.
