Crews encounter all kinds of conditions as they restore power. Here is a video from a bucket truck of a pole fire in Concord NH pic.twitter.com/ubBCjpDACz
— Unitil (@Unitil) December 23, 2022
CONCORD, NH – As of 7:30 a.m. Sunday, about 17,000 customers in New Hampshire remain without power as crews continue working to restore service. Utilities restored power to more than 12,000 customers overnight.
“Some New Hampshire residents may be on their second or third day without power,” said Robert Buxton, Director of the New Hampshire Department of Safety’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. “Neighbors should check in on each other, and if anyone is in need of a warming shelter, they can call 2-1-1 to find one nearby.”
Eversource reported about 9,414 of their NH customers were still without power Sunday, including 89 in Manchester.
As of 6:45 a.m., approximately 1,200 Unitil customers in New Hampshire are without power, down from a Friday evening peak of approximately 22,000.
While the majority of those impacted are expected to have power restored by this evening, restoration may take longer for customers in isolated pockets that experienced extensive damage and those with individual service issues, said Unitil spokesman Alec O’Meara.
“It’s Christmas morning and many of our customers are still waking up to no power. We understand this has been a very difficult time for our customers, especially on Christmas and with frigid temperatures in the wake of the storm. Our crews have worked around the clock restoring power to tens of thousands of customers who lost power during Friday’s high winds. They’ll continue to work tirelessly throughout the event until all outages are restored. We appreciate the tireless work of our crews, municipal officials and the patience of our customers during this restoration process,” O’Meara said.
Report power outages to your utility provider every 24 hours until it is restored:
Eversource: 1-800-662-7764
Liberty Utilities: 1-855-349-9455
NH Electric Co-Op: 1-800-343-6432
Unitil: 1-888-301-7700
Buxton also makes the following safety recommendations:
- Stay informed by signing up for NH Alerts and monitoring National Weather Service radio or broadcast weather reports.
- Drivers should be alert for crews clearing debris and use caution.
- Use flashlights, rather than candles, for emergency lighting.
- Do not use a gas range or oven as an alternate source of heat.
- Only use a generator that has been wired to the building electrical service by a professional electrician.
- Never run a generator inside a building or in an enclosed space and keep them 10 feet away from buildings with the exhaust pointed away.
- Never drive around barriers or remove them from closed roadways.
