MANCHESTER, N.H., January 29, 2009 – Fresh from the largest storm restoration in New Hampshire history, a group of PSNH line crews and support staff will travel south to assist in another ice storm recovery that is close to setting its own record. A widespread winter storm knocked out power this week to over 1.3 million customers from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania. For the next several days, the PSNH crews will work in Kentucky, where the storm hit hardest.
As a result of the ice storm, over 525,000 customers lost power in the Bluegrass State, largely in the north-western region. Kentucky Utilities Co. estimates that the restoration will take 7 – 10 days and has called for reinforcements from up and down the East Coast. Bob Hybsch, PSNH’s Customer Operations director, expects PSNH’s line crews will be there for the full duration. “Hundreds of crews came from all over to help us last month,” said Hybsch. “There is no doubt that they played a large part in our success during that restoration—we’re happy to return the favor.”
The five PSNH line crews and personnel will be part of a 33-crew contingent that Northeast Utilities (PSNH’s parent company) is sending to Kentucky. The deployment is part of a utility mutual aid effort that has, in the past, benefited the Granite State. Hundreds of out-of-state crews assisted PSNH following the December 2008 ice storm that caused an unprecedented 322,000 PSNH customers to lose power. PSNH crews have also been deployed in recent years to aid restoration efforts in New York, Ohio, Florida, Cape Cod, and Pennsylvania.
This week’s ice storm arrived less than six months after another natural disaster that set the record for power outages in Kentucky. In September 2008, high remnant winds from Hurricane Ike left over 600,000 customers without power.