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Under this Recent Events button, the SMLD will attempt to bring our customers
information about major outages and other important issues. Please be advised that this section may
not be updated immediately.
| SMLD INSTALLS AMI METERS |
| On Monday, August 9, 2010 the Sterling Municipal Light
Department (SMLD) continued installing meters for our Advanced Meter
Interface (AMI). Customers received letters that notified them of
the meter upgrade. |
ON-LINE
PAYMENTS WEB SITE NOT ACCESSIBLE
4/22/10 |
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UniBank’s UniPay Gold On-line Banking Web site…
https://unipaygold.unibank.com/Default.aspx?customerid=609
…was down this morning (04/22/10) due to regular maintenance that
took longer than expected. As of 8:37 a.m. on 04/22/10 the site was
back up and accessible again. The SMLD apologizes for this
inconvenience to its customers.
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| SPRING 2010
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| During the latter part of 2009, the SMLD was in a position
to reduce its purchased power adjustment charge (PPA charge) prior to
higher winter fuel prices, but had to increase its transmission adjustment
charge (TAC charge) due to continual increases in New England Transmission
charges. Unfortunately, in addition to the fuel and transmission
increases, our overall prices must be maintained due to the stoppage of
FEMA funding for all of the permanent repair work we are in the midst of
completing. We see no need for extra debt service especially since
we retired the substation bond last year. We do anticipate further
price decreases later this year as our working capital recovers and our
general cost-of-service declines to normal. |
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WEDNESDAY,
FEBRUARY 24, 2010
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The recent snowstorm on Wednesday February 24, 2010 dropped
approximately 8” of slushy snow on the Worcester regional area.
Large amounts of rain followed on Thursday February 25, 2010, and
snow fell again on Friday February 27, 2010.
This is not the kind of weather that the Sterling Municipal Light
Department (SMLD) finds appealing. As
we all know from December 2008, these conditions can be perilous.
The SMLD is fortunate to have completed permanent repair work from
that December 2008 Ice Storm, along with ongoing tree-trimming work, and
having a strong power system. Mix
the proactive work in with Wednesday’s storm and we only had three (3)
minor outages in Sterling. These
customers were back on line within a short period of time.
What we learned from this particular storm (and from the more than a dozen
phone calls that we received) however was that our community often sees
downed wires and thinks that they are all SMLD power wires.
Calls on Wednesday were actually relative to cable television
(Comcast) and/or phone wires (Verizon).
In an effort to help us focus on our primary work, the electric utility
power lines, please be very descriptive when you call into the SMLD
Customer Service team to report downed wires.
The more detail that you give us will help us to determine the
correct course of action. For
instance, did you hear a noise prior to your power outage?
Do you still have power? It
is important to note if you still have power, but no cable or telephone
service.
The SMLD would like to help its customers to identify cable television,
phone and power wires. Please
see the picture below showing a detailed image of these lines with each
labeled for your information. Please
recognize that the SMLD is not responsible for Comcast or Verizon lines,
or their exact location to your residence.
This general diagram is being provided to assist the SMLD in
responding to power outages quickly and effectively when you report them
to us. As always, please call
the SMLD Customer Service team at 978-422-8267 with any questions.
Thank you. |
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Given the proper information, we can dispatch our crews to SMLD outages
efficiently and effectively. So, when calling in to report an outage
or a downed line let us know:
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 | Do you have power in your home? |
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| If not, can you tell which line is down? |
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| If so, is there a problem with a circuit in your own home?
Please check your home’s circuit breaker panel. |
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| Was a generator ever in use? |
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| Do you have blinking lights? |
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| Do your neighbors have lights, or is a town street light on? |
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| Is your cable out? |
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| Is your telephone out? |
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