Forecasted winter weather and the projected path of Hurricane Sandy set stage for outages

PINEVILLE, LA. - Cleco is preparing to send a 26-member storm team Saturday to assist Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) as forecasters predict Hurricane Sandy will bring destructive winds over a large area in the mid-Atlantic and East Coast when the storm makes landfall. Cleco workers expect to encounter winter weather conditions while helping to restore power.

“BGE believes it will see extended and wide-spread outages in their service area in Maryland,” said Floyd Pittman, Cleco’s manager of distribution reliability and maintenance. “It has been two months since we were in BGE’s position requesting help from other utilities as Hurricane Isaac moved toward Louisiana. As always, we are happy to help other utilities when they face a large restoration.”

Cleco crews plan to arrive at their central Maryland destination Monday, Oct. 29. They will begin restoration work as soon as it is safe. Cleco’s workers are part of a cadre of approximately 800 other workers who have committed to assist BGE. The company has requested approximately 2,000 field workers.

BGE is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland and is the state’s largest gas and electric utility, serving more than 1.2 million electric customers and more than 650,000 natural gas customers. BGE is a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation.