Power Outage: Nantucket Businesses Face $1. 5M Loss

A significant power outage struck Nantucket during its annual Christmas Stroll, leaving more than 1, 400 businesses in the dark for about 27 hours. The island's Chamber of Commerce estimated that affected businesses lost around $1. 5 million. Shops struggled with credit card payments and were forced to close early. Restaurants and bars had to toss out foods that couldn’t be properly refrigerated. The Chamber surveyed 67 businesses and found that the food and beverage industry alone reported an additional $170, 000 lost in gratuities. Both businesses and customers are feared to lose confidence in the island’s infrastructure.

The outage was caused by a fault in an underground distribution cable managed by National Grid. The state’s Department of Public Utilities is evaluating whether National Grid met its obligations and if the company prepared adequately for such events. National Grid aims to set up a backup power solution by next month. Meanwhile, the community has shown support, including a local boutique raising thousands of dollars for service industry workers affected by the outage.

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