Why would Islands be last? I guess for the same reason houses further in the woods or at the ends of lines would come last: access and number of customers.

Historically, have islands been restored simultaneously? I mean, is there a precedent?



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Power Up?
 

Any information about the status of power on East Bear Island this Friday morning? 🐻

Ummm...
 

Historically, islands never had power. ;)

Power is on at Bear. Given the number of outages, I think they did a pretty good job to get it restored as quickly as they did - no complaints from me. With Atlantic Broadband, on the other hand, I have been struggling to get accurate information.

is the power on the mainland that service the lines going to the islands up and running? if not how can they restore power to the islands any quicker. Even customers on the mainland that are at the ends of the service runs can't come back till the the lines that feed them are restored. They can't start at the far end till the service is restored getting to that point. Having worked storm damage to restore power during winter it's no fun, imagine after working multiple days and finally getting to some of the seasonal areas that are usually unoccupied in winter and after having the town plow the road so the crews could get in, have 2 familys drive out, no one knew they were in there.

Their outage map shows no outages on the mainland in Tuftonboro. It also shows 193 outages in Tuftonboro, which I believe would be right around the number out houses on the Tuftonboro islands served by NHEC.

I guess Big Bear comes before Little Bear! Glad to hear you’re restored.

Yes, islands are usually restored last...

Dan

Trust me, there’s power all the way down to Harilla Landing and there has been all along. They never lost power. Looking at their “map” again this morning, Tuftonboro has the highest percentage of outages by members served and yet none of them are on the mainland. Also as Little Bear pointed out, it August and the weather is perfect, hardly a comparison to a mid winter or ice storm situation. This storm was forecast days in advance so there was ample time for NHEC to prepare and line up back up crews as other utilities do.


I entered a comment on the lack of response on their website last night for all the good it will do. No sign of any NHEC crews at the landing as 8:00 this morning, good thing we have plenty of gas for the generator.

Only part of Bear is on, we are still out.

Why do you think islands should be more important?

My father spent a lot of time working with power companies over his career. They have plans for how to deal with storm response. Plans which by the way are supposed to be available to the public. This plans describe the priority of response to various areas if the grid. Islands are likely at the bottom of that list for good reason:

1. Are there emergency or medical services housed on the islands? (i.e. hospitals, Dr. Offices, Police Stations, fire departments)
2. Are The residents with serious medical conditions, needing electricity to treat on the islands?
3. What is the down time for a crew traveling to and from the island?
4. How much information do they have regarding specifically what the issue is on the island?

#4 here is a big one, does someone on little bear know where the fuse is blown or line down? if so have the called that information in, or even better sent pictures to NHEC?

NHEC is very well run and manged, they do a tremendous job.... If you want to talk about power company corruption why don't you look into a company called Unitil...........

Having friends on various islands I can tell you islands are always last on the list. The ones that seem to get the fastest service, are the places where the residents get involved and get information to the power company....

Thanks for the update. Hope it’s restored soon!

As an islander, one has to be willing to accept the fact that there are different logistics involved with providing services to areas that are difficult to get to. While we all pay the same for using these services and for the fees necessary to maintain the infrastructure, expectations as to when restoration can be expected should consider where you are. Bottom line it is not up to the NHEC to come to everyone's rescue immediately following a storm, rather everyone should be adequately prepared for these situations. Having a generator is not a significant investment to run the basics and frankly was the first thing I did to my place assuming being on an island service restorations may be slow.

For the most part I think that the NHEC does a pretty good job at responding, and I don't think considering the damage to the infrastructure the response time has been inadequate.

FURTHERMORE keep in mind these guys have to abide by the ridiculous COVID19 restrictions which is slowing their progress. Makes it a little tough to get a job done when you're stuck having to play the social distancing, no large groups of people in one place and mask wearing game.

Think a little gratitude goes a long way for these line workers who are working 24X7 to restore power as quickly as they can.

Do you know why NHEC is not regulated by the NH Public Utilities Commission?

If they are not regulated then who oversees their activities? Who do they report to?

Well said - thank you

I suspect priority is given to getting the most people turned on sooner and the fewer number of people later. And that would probably include larger islands getting priority over smaller islands.

The coop is owned by it's members.
https://www.nhec.com/

We have NHEC at home in West Alton and have always had good service.

ABB shows on their outage page no outages in Meredith. I did attempt to get in touch with them but no luck just an answering machine. I imagine at this point they have no ETA.

Here's the deal with them, they cannot restore service till power is available as the signal requires powered amplifiers on the poles themselves. Although the power grid may be segmented and redundant the same may not be true of the broadband infrastructure. I would not expect that broadband will return to service until the majority of the power is restored, only then can they hit the poles and fix any damage done to their stuff.

The members.

This is why the "members" are given the chance to vote on various projects and leadership. Similar to a credit union vs a regular bank.

I doubt as a private entity they are governed by the NHPUC, however I can't say that for sure.

How are you coming to the conclusion that NHEC is not regulated by the NH PUC?


Because the islands are typically at the end of the service line.

Thanks - I have not been unable to reach them either. Knowing there is still power down on the island it makes sense as to why they are unable to restore service at the moment.

We just got power back on Bear. ABB is up as well.

Hmmm...I'd be careful about that line of reasoning if I were an islander. As you note, islanders pay the same rate as those on the mainland. But it's easy to see how providing electricity to the islands is much more expensive than providing juice to the mainland. NHEC has their own boat, as you note, is only the tip of the iceberg here--there's a lot of line to maintain for a small amount of homes. So really, the mainlanders are subsidizing your electricity.

So relax about the "corruption" that you are unable to identify and enjoy a cold beer chilled courtesy of NHEC and your onshore neighbors!

Never thought of it that way but very true, in fact the costs really escalate when there is need for logistical support where they need to bring out equipment and supplies. Not like you can replace a power pole with two guys a shovel and a skiff.

I know they have used Island Services Co a number of times.

Then again we islanders subsidize mainland property taxes so it's all in how you look at it I guess

Just as an FYI there are still people in my town, Sutton, Ma, on the mainland, that still don't have power and not expected to be restored until Sat and Sunday. We are a rural community and at the end of the storm there were over 4k without power in a town with only about 9k people. Most of us just chalk it up to being in a town with lots of trees that no one wants to cut down! So if you have power on the island I'd figure they are doing a pretty good job at this point!

Who said I was unable to identify the corruption? I said I didn’t have the time right then to get into it, nor do I now. But I will when I have the chance. And as Maxum said, islanders, especially in Tuftonboro, are subsidizing mainland properties.

Its clear you have a ax to grind for some reason w/ NHEC....

Don't think that Islanders are the only ones subsidizing towns around the lakes. Every season lake front home subsidizes the towns they are in.... It is simply part of owning a second home. You are doing nothing but playing the blame game, you need someone to blame because you don't have power.....

If being with out power is so inconvenient, I suggest looking into a couple of things:

1. Generator back up,
2. Solar Back up, with Battery Reserves

I have lived with out power for almost 2 weeks, yep it sucked it really did... But instead of complaining we got resourceful... Learned to use oil lamps, pulled out the old propane camp stove and used it on the deck... moved we we knew we would need form the refrigerator bit it in a cooler and then left the refrigerator closed as long as possible...

This stuff isn't rocket science, and I would rather be doing it in the summer, when most times I have had do deal with long power outages it has been in the winter....

In the grand scheme of things being with out power for 3 or 4 days after a Hurricane comes through is nothing....Last night I watched a show about Mount St. Helens in 1980..... I also lived in Washington at that time.... talk about inconvience, try having your car engine destroyed because of Ash....

Okay I should stop now but I hope you get the point.... your whining up a small tree.

If you live on one of the islands and you like your electricity, a generator is a must! I would never be without one...

Dan

Do you use a propane fired one for continuous power or a portable one?

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I have 6000 watt Honda portable on the island. It’s very quiet and very reliable. It has run for 5 days non stop. It goes through 5 gallons of gas every 12 hours.

At my mainland home I do have a propane 20K on demand generator.

Dan

If you get a portable one - there are conversion kits to have them run on propane.

There are also more and more dual fuel portable generators you can get that can do both gas and propane out of the box. I may look into one myself for on the island as I need a little more capacity than what I have now and having the flexibility to burn gas or propane is a nice feature.

Power Back on Mink around 11:00 today.
 

Lots of generators could be heard when we arrived around 10 last night.

Generators - how much use?
 

Just curious - for those who have portable generators on an island, how often do you need them? I’ve never had one and never really felt the need, but being here more and more, am leaning toward getting one. I know it’s peace of mind, but how often do they get used for power outages?

I’ll add that I have a gas stove so cooking is not an issue.

I would estimate twice during a season... the problem is when electricity does go down, it’s usually down for a while. It’s never fixed in a couple hours as they have to get a crew out in their boat, etc,etc.

Dan

From what I have seen - unless there is a wide spread event power is restored next day worst case.

Off season, they can be a little more sluggish in responding, and in the winter, they will not come out unless they can get out here safely either hitching a ride with the island service guys or waiting till there is at least a foot of ice on the lake. I've spent a few winter weekends on generator power.

This is the longest "in season" outage I've seen in the past 9 years.

Again considering the logistics of where we are, the NHEC does a pretty good job in my opinion.

we kept the propane fridge after we got electricty. We were just discussing going to a regular one before the power went out. Not sure what we'll do yet but it is nice not worrying about it. Just need to keep the tanks full and that is pricey. Pros and cons for sure

Generator
 

We use our generator backup several times each season. Well worth the money! It's a Generac with Honda motor, starts right up even after 15 years.

We had a bad windstorm around Halloween maybe 3 or 4 years ago and were without power for a week. Without the generator, we wouldn't have stayed out here. They do suck up a lot of propane..for those of you who are up to the task, I discovered that Osbourne's Agway near the Winnesquam bridge fills 100 pound tanks for under 50 bucks...a bargain considering what you pay to get propane trucked out here!

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I remember the Halloween storm of 2011 all too well. The dock came out that day just as snow started to fall. We met friends at the Lyons Den for dinner after and almost couldn't leave Gilford because of the icy hill on the Rte 11 bypass. We finally made it home after 2-1/2 hours only to have no power. Had to go out to get gas at midnight for the portable generator and was in bed for only a few minutes and kaboom. A big oak limb fell on the house. After that we had a standby generator installed. And it was about 12 months after that when we actually used the new generator. It's good insurance so you have it when you need it.

Stand By Your Camp
 

We went home early Monday morning so no boat was at our place on East Bear Island when Isaias passed by. The similar storm that hit us in late October, 2015 visited after we had closed for the season. Our seasonal dock was cast upside down against our permanent dock, damaging it and destroying the seasonal one. ISC made repairs in May 2016. We were spared a similar fate this year. This week, we lost power for 36 hours, regaining it Friday morning, I believe. We arrived on the island at dusk last evening. We do not use our portable gasoline emergency generator unless we have been down about a day. Sometimes we are down for a short period of time due to an event on the mainland that affects the power to Bear Island. 🐻