CMP Contract Vote Postponed While Crews Work to Restore Power

February 26, 2010 - Around 650 IBEW members at Central Maine Power will have to wait a few more days to vote on a new contract offer. The vote originally scheduled for Friday, February 26 was postponed for a few days while CMP crews kept busy fixing down power lines.

“Because of the storm, we will have members that will be deployed to various work locations,” said Bill Dunn, IBEW 1837 Assistant Business Manager. “Because of that, we have rescheduled the ratification vote for a new contract until next Tuesday, March 2.”

UPDATE: Due to ongoing restoration work, the vote has been rescheduled again to Tuesday, March 9.

CMP line crews were out in force Friday morning working to restore power to as many as 130,000 homes and business left in the dark by Thursday’s powerful storm. Winds greater than 60 m.p.h. in a number of communities caused widespread power outages throughout the CMP service area. In neighboring New Hampshire, roughly one third of the state or about 330,000 residents and businesses were without power, and Gov. John Lynch declared a state of emergency.

“The wind is still blowing pretty good out here, but last night, that was really something,” Trouble Shooter Sam Pottle said late Friday morning. He and Line Troubleshooter Geroge Marston were busy working on a pole on the Prescott Road in Manchester and expected a long day ahead. They were just one of many crews moving from one area to the next to get the power back to CMP's customers as quickly as possible. It could take several days to restore service to everyone affected by the windy and wet storm.

Basements were flooded, homes and businesses were damaged, roads were littered with debris, and many schools were closed. Snow was in the forecast, promising to make things even more challenging for CMP crews over the weekend.