For Immediate Release
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Utility Crews Work Around the Clock
MAYS LANDING, N.J. - The severe storm which swept through the region Sunday afternoon caused widespread damage and more than 68,000 customer outages throughout Atlantic City Electric's eight-county service territory.
"Our first priority is public health and safety. Our crews will continue to work around the clock until all customers are restored," said Robert Revelle, Atlantic City Electric Region Vice President. "We will continue to assess the damage and crews will restore service to customers as quickly and safely as possible."
Given the amount of damage to the system, Atlantic City Electric expects this restoration effort could last for several more days with the last few remaining customers to be restored as late as Wednesday.
The heavy rain, high winds and lightning caused significant damage to electrical equipment including fallen tree limbs and whole trees which brought down power lines and damaged utility poles with Cumberland County being the hardest hit area.
As of noon today, Atlantic City Electric had approximately 8,000 customers without power, with the majority of those customers residing in Cumberland County.
To report power outages or other emergencies, such as a downed wire, pole accident, or tree limb on a wire, call 1-800-833-7476. Atlantic City Electric's restoration process focuses first on addressing health and safety issues then restoring service to the largest groups of customers. The priorities are:
· Downed live wires or potentially life-threatening situations
· Public health and safety facilities without power
· Transmission lines serving thousands of customers
· Substation equipment
· Main distribution lines serving large numbers of customers
· Secondary lines serving neighborhoods
· Service lines to individual homes and businesses
Additional weather, outage and safety information may be found at www.atlanticcityelectric.com
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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.