Addressing power disruptions on campus

Dear UMBC Community, 

The power outage we experienced on Tuesday was disruptive in myriad ways and to the entirety of our campus. As Vice President for Administration and Finance Kathy Dettloff and I expressed in our message to the community that day, we share your frustration with another power outage. We are committed to doing all we can to minimize the number and mitigate the impact of any service interruptions, both by working to improve resiliency of our own systems and working with BGE to take immediate action and continue to implement long-term strategies for reliability. 

I have spoken with BGE President and CEO Carim Khouzami, and he has responded with the letter I share with you here, which includes information about work BGE is undertaking now–this week–to address the issue. He also has committed to bringing BGE officials to campus to hear directly from members of our community about the impact of these disruptions and to share more about the planned response. We are in the process of scheduling that meeting with some key stakeholders.

I understand that this is an issue that goes back several years and affects not only our entire campus community, but our neighboring communities as well. Please know that I take this issue seriously. I will continue to be in contact with BGE leadership and see that we move forward in meaningful ways toward our shared goal of improved reliability of our electric service. 

Sincerely,

President Valerie Sheares Ashby