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Title: Central Maine Power Knocks Out Electricity for 8,400 Local Customers

Power Out For Up to 20 Minutes in Conway, Bartlett, Jackson Loren Billings

May 2, 2000

More than 8,400 NH Electric Cooperative and PSNH customers in Glen, Jackson, Bartlett and Conway were affected by a power outage Monday morning lasting in some cases up to 20 minutes. It was caused by Central Maine Power. The problem stemmed from the Kimball Road substation in Harrison, Maine, said Clark Irwin, spokesman for Central Maine Power. That substation provides transmission capability to towns in the Upper Saco Valley, which includes Conway. Monday morning, he said, crews were doing some preventative maintenance work, and they caused an interruption in service to PSNH's substation, lasting about two minutes. When a so-called "trip" occurs, said Doris Burke, spokesman for PSNH, the substation automatically shuts down for safety reasons. About 3,000 PSNH customers in the Conway area were affected. PSNH re-energized the line within four minutes, she said.

About 5,465 Coop customers in Bartlett, Jackson and Glen were without power for about 20 minutes beginning around 9:35 a.m., said Deana DeLucca, spokesperson for NH Coop.

"We lost our substation due to a supplier problem," she said, referring to PSNH.

PSNH doesn't tell the co-op what the problem is, DeLucca said. In instances like this, all co-op officials know is that there is a supplier problem because the substation goes down.

http://www.mountwashingtonvalley.com/news.shtml

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), May 02, 2000