Charles Co. proves to be biggest challenge

HUGHESVILLE, Md. -- As of 6 p.m. Monday, July 2, SMECO has restored electric service to all of its customers in Calvert and St. Mary's counties who were affected by power outages resulting from Friday night's storm.

With 95 percent of the cooperative's customer-members' power restored, SMECO president and CEO Austin J. Slater, Jr. said, "Our crews in the field and our office personnel have worked safely and steadily through this crisis. We still have 263 incidents to address tonight and on Tuesday. While that number may not sound like a lot, in these types of situations, the last repairs are often the most time-consuming. We are still planning to have power restored to all of our customers by Tuesday night, barring any additional storms."

As of 6 p.m., SMECO had 2,371 customers in Charles County and 316 in Prince George's County without power.

SMECO's outage restoration policy is to make repairs that will restore service to the most people in the least amount of time. Transmission lines and substations are repaired first, followed by distribution lines that feed neighborhoods. Tap lines and individual service lines are then repaired to restore power to customers who may still be without electricity.

Customers without power should call SMECO's Outage Hotline at 1-877-74-SMECO or 1-877-747-6326.