Avangrid Companies in New York and Maine Honored with Dual Emergency Response Awards
New York State Electric & Gas and Central Maine Power recognized for recovery and restoration efforts in 2024
ORANGE, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Avangrid, Inc., a leading sustainable energy company and a member of the Iberdrola Group, announced today that it has received dual Emergency Response Awards from Edison Electric Institute (EEI). The awards honor the extraordinary performance of Avangrid companies New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) and Central Maine Power (CMP) during recovery and restoration efforts from storms in 2024.
“We are committed to serving our customers with safe and reliable service in any situation,” said Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra. “Despite the widespread damage caused by these storms, our women and men worked quickly to restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers in a matter of days. The planning, preparation, and response took a true team effort, and all of us are immensely proud to be recognized by EEI with this prestigious award.”
Presented to EEI member companies twice each year, the Emergency Response Awards recognize companies that put forth outstanding efforts to restore service promptly to the public following a storm or natural disaster. Following a nomination process, EEI announced the Avangrid companies as recipients during EEI’s winter Board of Directors and CEO meeting.
NYSEG was honored for its response to Tropical Storm Debby, which struck New York state in August 2024. Tropical Storm Debby delivered heavy rainfall, harsh wind gusts, coastal flooding, and tornadoes along much of the East Coast from August 5 through 9. The combination of gusty winds and heavy rain led to downed trees and power outages for more than one hundred thousand customers across New York State. More than 1,300 field service personnel worked across NYSEG’s entire service area to restore power.
“Our customers count on NYSEG to be first responders during our extreme weather, restoring power safely, effectively, and as quickly as possible,” said Trish Nilsen, president and CEO of NYSEG and RG&E. “We are proud to receive this prestigious award because it recognizes our commitment to our customers, our communities, and operational excellence.”
CMP was honored for its response to a spring nor’easter that brought strong winds, heavy snow, and ice to Maine on April 4, 2024. The long-duration storm left more than 270,000 customers without power across the state. Snow loading on trees from heavy, wet snow along with strong winds were the primary causes of damage. More than 1,100 crews took part in the major restoration effort that included damage assessments, tree clearing and repairs to electrical infrastructure.
“Spring 2024 saw back-to-back snow and ice storms impact hundreds of thousands of CMP customers. After wet, heavy snow brought down trees and power lines across Maine, our teams worked tirelessly to get the lights back on for our communities and neighbors,” said Joe Purington, president and CEO of CMP. “Our top priority in any storm is fast power restoration. This award goes to our CMP crews who showed up in snow, ice, wind, and rain and made that possible.”
About Avangrid: Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) aspires to be the leading sustainable energy company in the United States. Headquartered in Orange, CT with approximately $47 billion in assets and operations in 24 U.S. states, Avangrid has two primary lines of business: networks and renewables. Through its networks business, Avangrid owns and operates eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and New England. Through its renewables business, Avangrid owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities across the United States. Avangrid employs approximately 8,000 people and has been recognized by JUST Capital as one of the JUST 100 companies – a ranking of America’s best corporate citizens – in 2024 for the fourth consecutive year. In 2024, Avangrid ranked first among utilities and 12 overall. The company supports the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and was named among the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2024 for the sixth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute. Avangrid is a member of the group of companies controlled by Iberdrola, S.A. For more information, visit www.avangrid.com.
Contacts
Jon Breed
Jonathan.breed@avangrid.com
(207) 458-3510
