HUGHESVILLE, Md. (July 3, 2012)—SMECO has restored electric service to all of its customers in Calvert and St. Mary's counties who were affected by Friday night's power outages as of Tuesday, July 2. Some additional outages in those counties have occurred today following the storm restoration. Just a few hundred customers are without power in Charles County today and SMECO plans to have their power restored by tonight.
The derecho which hit Friday night, June 29, was the cause of the third highest number of outages in SMECO's 75-year history, surpassed only by Hurricane Irene in 2011 with 108,000 outages and Hurricane Isabel in 2003 with 73,000 outages. With a peak of 61,745 outages in the early morning hours of Saturday, June 30, SMECO was able to have 95 percent of its customers' power restored by Monday afternoon.
SMECO president and CEO Austin J. Slater, Jr. said, "I couldn't be more proud of the work our employees, contractor personnel, and sister co-op crews have performed. We have worked diligently and safely to restore electric service to the homes and businesses of Southern Maryland, and our customer-members have been patient and understanding throughout the process. They have given us words of encouragement and support, knowing that our crews were working in extreme heat for long hours." Slater added, "We still have some work to do to get the last few hundred customers on, and we have about 70 crews working to make that happen."
SMECO customers who experience a power outage should call 1-877-74-SMECO or 1-877-747-6326.