Segal's Solar Systems, Inc.'s Report on Recent BGE Power Outages from Thunder and Lightning Storms, Hurricanes, and Snow and Ice Storms

We do not need a terrorist to disrupt the electric power system, and with it, our way of life. Heavy gale force winds, rainstorms, lightning, hurricanes, tornados, and hail storms in the summer, snow and ice storms in winter, are violent enemies of our electrical power grid. Even if your home does not get hit directly, you can lose electricity when power lines between your home and the power plants are snapped by falling trees. The weather caused the following BGE power outages:

• Late afternoon of August 7, 2000 marks the time of heavy thunderstorms, hail, and sixty Miles Per Hour winds. 5600 of the 83,600 Families in the Greater Washington, DC area who lost power do to this storm were customers of BGE or Baltimore Gas and Electric Company.
  
  
• On September 15, 1999, Hurricane Floyd hit the east coast of North Carolina and Virginia. By the time it hit the eastern half of Maryland, and all of Delaware and New Jersey, it had been DOWNGRADED to a Tropical Storm. Even in this weakened state, it still knocked out electrical power to approximately 120,000 Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) customers in Anne Arundel, Prince Georges, Montgomery, Howard, and Baltimore Counties. About 40 percent of these customers were in Anne Arundel County. Five days later, 43,000 customers were STILL without power. Downed trees and power lines closed 40 roads just in Anne Arundel County.
  
  
• On May 26, 1999, 10,000 Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) customers in Prince Georges and Anne Arundel Counties, Maryland lost electricity.
  
  
• On May 24, 1999 a spring thunder, rain, and wind storm hit Baltimore, Maryland and knocked out electric power to 49,000 customers.
  
  
• On January 15, 1999 a winter storm of ice and freezing rain hit Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland. This storm caused so many tree limbs and branches to fall, or be blown against power lines and substations, that 110,000 BGE customers in Maryland lost power.
  Ten hours later, 100,000 of these customers were still without power.
  This storm was so large that 450,000 PEPCO customers also lost electric power.
  Ten hours later, 400,000 of them were still without power. Many of them did not regain power until January 20, a full five days later. See PEPCO Power Outages for more information. This same January 15th. storm also caused 113,000 VEPCO customers to lose power.
  
  
• On March 31, 1997, 7600 Customers of BGE in Maryland lost power due to a snow and ice storm. Over 3000 of them were still without power that night.
  

Think about it.
Wouldn't it make sense to take the steps NOW to protect your family against a future catastrophe?
WISE people are! When Segal's Solar Systems provides them with a standby power system, they call it "lifestyle insurance."

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Contact Information:

Our Addresses:

U.S. Mail: Segal's Solar Systems, Inc., 3357 Cranberry South, Laurel, MD 20724-2419
Electronic Mail: solar@smart.net

Our Phone Number: 301-776-8946

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This page was last updated on August 12, 2000
by Barry Jay Segal.