SMECO crews and contractors have been working throughout the day to restore electric service to members who were affected by weather-related power outages.
According to SMECO spokesperson Tom Dennison, “While we have made some headway and restored service to more than 33,000 people since Monday afternoon, the majority of the remaining outages that need to be repaired will be time consuming. If a line has several trees or limbs down, each repair needs to be made individually. And if we get a layer of ice tonight on top of the heavy snow already on the trees, we may experience additional outages. At this time, we expect to restore service to most of the customers in Calvert and St. Mary’s counties by late Wednesday night, and most customers in Charles and Prince George’s may have power restored by Thursday night.”
As of 8:18 p.m. on Tuesday, January 4, SMECO’s outage map showed about 11,680 people without service.
SMECO’s line crews, along with contractors from Sumter, Penn Line, AUI Power, CW Wright, and Utility Lines, are working to restore power in areas affected by outages. SMECO’s power restoration procedures prioritize repairs that will restore service to the most people in the least amount of time. Crews work to make sure substation feeders and major distribution lines are operational before making repairs to tap lines and individual service lines.
Anyone can view the status of SMECO power outages, find helpful information, or report an outage on the co-op’s outage map on our Outages page.