Restoration Continues in Seaside Communities

Crews from Atlantic City Electric and other regional utilities continue to focus their efforts on rebuilding parts of the crippled electric system in Cape May County Tuesday as a second fierce winter storm punishes a string of seaside communities in southern New Jersey.

Some of the hardest hit towns include Ocean City, Stone Harbor, Avalon, Sea Isle City, the Strathmere area of Upper Township, the Wildwoods, Cape May and Villas in Lower Township.

While inland areas received mainly snow during the weekend storm, the leading edge blasted through Cape May County with a heavy dose of freezing rain and wet snow that weighed down limbs and lines, snapping trees and poles and severing electric service to tens of thousands of customers.

"Our crews are working tirelessly to bring electric service back to our customers in Cape May County," said Vince Maione, Regional President. "Although this latest storm could complicate our efforts and push back restoration times, we're going to continue working with public officials on this effort to restore service to customers as quickly and safely as possible."

At the peak of the storm, nearly 81,000 customers were out of service. By 8:30 a.m. today, crews had driven down that number to about 14,000. Amid their effort, linemen had replaced about 50 poles and nearly nine miles of wire.

"This was an historic storm that left a broad swath of destruction in its wake and we're working hard to fix the damage. In some cases we're essentially rebuilding portions of the system," Maione said. "Some customers may not be back in service until late this week. We recognize the hardship and inconvenience faced by many of our customers and we appreciate their patience."

###

Atlantic City Electric, a public utility owned by Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM), provides safe, reliable and affordable regulated electric delivery services to more than 547,000 customers in southern New Jersey.