Mays Landing, N.J. - Atlantic City Electric is continuing to apply maximum resources to restore service to customers impacted by Hurricane Sandy.  The company expects to have restored service to all mainland customers able to safely accept electric power by midnight Friday, with the exception of select communities in eastern Atlantic and Ocean counties that suffered far more extensive infrastructure damage.  These most severely impacted communities comprise fewer than ten percent of mainland outages resulting from Sandy and they will be fully restored by the end of the weekend.  For the barrier islands, customers capable of accepting power should be fully restored by midnight Sunday with the exception of Long Beach Island where electric restoration efforts must be coordinated with the gas distribution company to assure public safety.

At the height of the storm, about 220,000 customers were without service.  Atlantic City Electric has resolved about two-thirds of these.  Currently, there are about 75,000 customers without power: 31,500 on the mainland and 43,000 in barrier island communities.

"The damage to the system was unprecedented with 20 transmission lines, more than 40 distribution feeders, and seven distribution substations taken out of service,," said Vincent Maione, Region President for Atlantic City Electric.  "We are deploying our crews where they can have the maximum impact while working safely.  There are still some areas our crews cannot access or work safely.  But we are making tremendous progress even on the barrier islands, where we've already reduced outage by more than 30 percent. "

Hurricane Sandy has proven to be the massive, very dangerous storm that was predicted, leaving millions of Americans without power and causing extensive damage to homes, businesses and property.  Atlantic City Electric prepared extensively for Sandy, mobilizing all employees and contractors, and securing out-of-state utility assistance.  "We currently have close to 1900 restoration personnel in the ACE service territory.  This includes over 300 mutual assistance crews arriving today and we expect more crews to arrive tomorrow," noted Maione. ACE also has worked to prepare customers for the storm through its communications channels and to continuously provide updated information.  

"Everyone feels tremendous urgency to make it possible for residents to access their homes.  However, it's imperative we all - electric crews, public work crews, gas crews - work safely and in a coordinated manner," said Maione.

Customers Asked to Report Power Outages
Customer reported outages are vital to Atlantic City Electric's restoration efforts.  Customers are asked to report outages at www.atlanticcityelectric.com or by calling 1-800-833-7476 and following the prompts on the automated system.  If reporting an emergency or another life-threatening situation such as downed wires, customers should immediately call 1-800-833-7476 and follow the appropriate prompts. 

Atlantic City Electric also recommends, when reporting an outage, that customers request a call-back. Call-backs allow Atlantic City Electric to notify customers when work in their area is completed.  Even when area work has been completed, not every customer may have service if further unrecognized damage exists on equipment directly serving a customer's home. Customers responding to call-backs help the utility to locate outages that are specific to customers' homes and still need to be addressed.

To keep up to date, customers are encouraged to visit www.atlanticcityelectric.com, follow us on Facebook and Twitter at ACElecConnect and download our mobile app at www.atlanticcityelectric.com/mobileapp.

Atlantic City Electric Encourages Safety Precautions

• After severe storms, Atlantic City Electric urges customers to take safety precautions. Our safety tips include:
• Stay away from downed wires. Call 1-800-833-7476 and follow the prompts to report a downed wire or an outage.
• Avoid crews working in the street. This will keep you and the crews safe, and allow them to work on restoring your power.
• Visit www.atlanticcityelectric.com for safety tips and follow the advice of your local emergency management officials.
• If you plan to use a portable generator, follow the manufacturer's instructions and use only when necessary. Don't overload it and turn it off at night, while you sleep and when you are away from home.
• Locate a portable generator in a well-ventilated area. Never run it inside, even in your garage, to avoid the potential hazard of carbon monoxide. Do not connect the generator directly into your home's main fuse box or circuit panel.
• Protect food and refrigerated medicine with regular ice in an insulated cooler. If you are without power for more than two hours, refrigerated foods should be placed in a cooler.
• Turn off power to flood-prone basement appliances if it is safe to do so. However, if you have an electrically operated sump pump, you should not turn off the power in your basement.

Tune in to local news broadcasts for the latest weather and emergency information.


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 540,000 customers in southern New Jersey.