ComEd Restores 99 Percent of Customers Affected by Sunday's Severe Storms

Following severe storms which produced strong winds, hail and heavy rain, ComEd has restored power to 99 percent of the 120,000 customers whose power was impacted by the stormy weather. There were two severe storms that impacted ComEd’s service territory on Sunday and caused damage to a lot of trees in several areas and resulted in downed power lines, damaged roofing, and lots of flying debris in affected areas.

More than 650 ComEd and contractor crews worked around-the-clock throughout the service territory, including the severely impacted areas in Grayslake and Round Lake Beach in Lake County. As a result, power was restored to more than 90 percent of impacted customers within a 24-hour period. There are still some outages in areas that are hard to reach due to significant damage and debris. ComEd crews will continue to work on restoring storm-impacted customers who are able to receive power.

“Sunday’s afternoon and late evening storms came in two waves and together they resulted in more than 120,000 customers losing power,” said Terence R. Donnelly, executive vice president and chief operating officer for ComEd. “The storms damage was significant and it was complicated by the amount of debris that resulted from the turbulent conditions. Our crews are continuing to work as quickly and safely as possible to bring power and peace of mind back to all impacted customers.”

ComEd dispatched its Mobile Operations Command Center and new Community Care Vans to Grayslake to support storm crews and provide relief and information services to impacted residents. Care Vans distribute water bottles, provide phone charging stations as well as information about outage restoration to residents in hardest hit areas.

ComEd urges customers to contact the utility immediately if they are experiencing a power outage. Customers can text OUT to 26633 (COMED) to report their outage and receive restoration information. ComEd also offers a mobile app smart phones that gives customers the ability to report power outages and manage their accounts. In addition, customers can report outages through the website at ComEd.com or on ComEd’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/ComEd or by calling 1-800 EDISON1 (1-800-334-7661). Spanish-speaking customers should call 1-800-95-LUCES (1-800-955-8237).

Public safety is paramount during storms and ComEd encourages the public to remember to take the following precautions:

• If you encounter a downed power line, immediately call ComEd at 1-800-EDISON1 (1-800-334-7661) or access our website at ComEd.com and report the location. Spanish-speaking customers should call 1-800-95-LUCES (1-800-955-8237). Never approach a downed power line. Always assume a power line is energized and extremely dangerous
• Check on elderly and other sensitive family members and neighbors to ensure their safety.
• Please do not approach ComEd crews seeking restoration times. Broken tree limbs and power lines in the area can present a significant danger. Restoration times can be found online on ComEd’s Outage Maps or by signing up for texting programs.

Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation’s leading competitive energy provider, with approximately 7.8 million customers. ComEd provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population. For more information visit ComEd.com, and connect with the company on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150804006262/en/