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“Currently right now we have about 160,000 customers that are out [of power],” President of Electric Operations for Eversource Doug Foley said in a press conference Wednesday.
Two Eversource linemen, Justin Sessa and Omer Celik, work on power lines after Monday’s blizzard caused power outages across Eastern Mass. Craig Walker/The Boston Globe
The last customers still without power in Eastern Massachusetts after Monday’s historic blizzard should have service restored by midnight Friday, Eversource and National Grid said.
“Currently right now we have about 160,000 customers that are out [of power],” Eversource President of Electric Operations for Massachusetts Doug Foley said during a press conference Wednesday.
According to Foley, 121,000 residents on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard along with 40,000 customers in Plymouth and New Bedford were without power as of Wednesday morning.
Twenty-six towns will likely wait until Thursday or Friday to have their electricity restored, Eversource estimated in an update Wednesday afternoon.
Customers in Wellfleet, Yarmouth, Barnstable, Brewster, Dennis, Oak Bluffs, and Harwich will likely be the last towns to have power restored, with Eversource estimating they will have power by 11:59 p.m. Friday.
National Grid saw more than 90,000 customers without electricity on Monday during the storm, National Grid announced.
By 7 a.m. Tuesday, 71,000 clients had had their power turned back on, the company said.
“There could be some stragglers that go into Thursday, but we’re going to work really hard to have everybody on by Wednesday night, at midnight,” Chris Laird, COO of New England Electric for National Grid, said in a press conference Tuesday.
National Grid had around 3,000 customers without power Wednesday night, mostly on Nantucket. The island will likely have power by 11 p.m. Wednesday, a company outage map showed.
While Eversource crews are working on power lines, some towns may lose power as damage assessment teams determine if crews have to “de-energize the area,” Foley said.
Eversource has brought in workers from Canada, New Hampshire, and even Ohio to address the large outage issue, Foley said.
“Many of our crews have not gone home. They’re working 18-hour shifts, bedding down for six hours, and they are back at it,” Foley said.
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