During the past 48 hours, PECO crews and contractors from around the
country have restored service to more than 435,000 of the 715,000
customers affected by the second worst storm in company history.
As work continues, we urge customers to take precautions for their
safety – taking advantage of local warming centers and shelters or
making other arrangements to stay safe. It also is a good opportunity to
check on neighbors, friends, the elderly and others who may be without
service.
Exercise caution when using generators to power your home and never use
a generator, grill or other similar devices indoors or in an attached
garage. Read and adhere to the manufacturer's instructions for safe
operation and be sure not to overload the generator.
PECO urges customers to stay safe and always stay away from any storm
damaged electrical equipment, especially downed power lines and tree
limbs that may come into contact with power lines. Always consider that
downed electrical wires are energized and report them to the company
immediately.
Wednesday’s storm caused extensive damage to trees, tree limbs and
electrical equipment and is the second most damaging storm in the
company’s history in terms of customer outages. The restoration process
has been a monumental effort. More than 5,000 PECO employees,
contractors and utility workers from as far away as Arkansas, Canada,
Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and Ohio and PECO’s Chicago-based
sister utility ComEd, are working around the clock to repair damage and
restore service to the region.
Although we have made tremendous progress to restore service to more
than half those affected by Wednesday’s storm, approximately 280,000
customers remain without service. PECO understands this is a hardship
for our customers and we will continue to work until service is restored
to each and every customer.
Based in Philadelphia, PECO is an electric and natural gas utility
subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC). PECO serves 1.6
million electric and 497,000 natural gas customers in southeastern
Pennsylvania and employs about 2,400 people in the region. PECO
delivered 76.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 37.5 billion
kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2012. Founded in 1881, PECO is
one of the Greater Philadelphia Region's most active corporate citizens,
providing leadership, volunteer and financial support to numerous arts
and culture, education, environmental, economic development and
community programs and organizations. Stay updated with PECO on social
media on Twitter @PECOConnect and Facebook www.facebook.com/pecoconnect.
If you are a member of the media and would like to receive PECO news
releases via e-mail, please send your e-mail address to PECO.Communication@exeloncorp.com.
Copyright Business Wire 2014