Pepco Continues Damage Assessment; Restoration Crews At Work

[Howard Hartman]

Pepco Continues Damage Assessment

Restoration Crews At Work

• 48,000 customers, two substations restored
• Potomac Water Filtration Plant restored
• More than 2,400 personnel dedicated to restoration

Pepco has restored power to approximately 48,000 customers, two large substations serving parts of Upper Marlboro, Croom, Adelphi and College Park; and the Potomac Water Filtration Plant, which provides clean drinking water to 70 percent of Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission's customers.

The company has dispatched 1,300 line-restoration workers, approximately 700 field support personnel, and 440 others to staff the company's call center. Pepco began deploying damage assessment teams at 7 a.m. and continued to deploy restoration teams throughout the day. Crews are actively working to restore power at the remaining affected substations.

A "global" estimated restoration time indicating when the last Pepco customer is expected to have power restored will be available no later than Monday morning. While the global time indicates when the last customer will have power, many customers will have power back prior to that time. Crews will work around the clock until everyone's power is restored.

"We continue to attack the outages with more than 2,400 dedicated personnel working to restore customers' power, complete a comprehensive damage assessment and staff our customer call centers. We began our restoration efforts by tackling the largest-scale problems, including the substations and water filtration plant," said Tom Graham, Pepco Region President. "Wind gusts are reported to have reached nearly 60 mph, and the storm dumped approximately eight inches of water on the system, but we are executing the response plan established over the past week and will continue to do so around the clock."

Damage to the electrical infrastructure has been widespread and extensive. At its peak, the storm left approximately 220,000 customers without power. Restoration efforts will first address issues of public health and safety and will then focus on transmission repairs that will restore electricity supply to a large group of customers, followed by restoration of individual circuits serving neighborhoods and streets.

Pepco will implement an area-based restoration approach once primary circuits have been restored, which means that once a crew is dispatched to a particular area, the crew will stay in that area until all the customers have power restored.

Pepco coordinates its efforts with public and other agencies across our service territory as part of the overall community recovery effort. In Maryland and the District of Columbia, we are coordinating with the local departments of transportation to restore power to key street lights and other critical infrastructure.

To keep up-to-date, customers are encouraged to visit the Pepco website
(www.pepco.com) frequently, follow them at www.Twitter.com/PepcoConnect and listen to local radio stations for updates.

Pepco Emphasizes Importance of Safety

Safety is paramount for Pepco's customers and employees. As the skies clear, the company urges the public to stay alert, as conditions will remain hazardous. It is critical to stay clear of downed wires and report them by calling 1-877-PEPCO-62 (1-877-737-2662) and following the voice prompts. Other important safety recommendations include:

• If you use life-support equipment that requires electricity to operate and you have lost power, Pepco urges you to seek alternative accommodations at a location with emergency power capabilities as restoration will be a multi-day event.
  
  
• If you are using 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 poisoning. 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. Foods will stay frozen for 36 to 48 hours in a fully loaded freezer if the door remains closed, and a half-full freezer will generally keep food frozen for up to 24 hours.

A full list of safety tips can be found on the Pepco website (www.pepco.com).

Customers Asked To Report Power Outages

Customers are asked to report outages at www.pepco.com or by calling 1-877-PEPCO-62 (1-877-737-2662) and following the voice prompts. Customers' reports are vital to Pepco's restoration efforts because they help the company identify the location of outages more quickly. Each household should report an outage; a neighbor's call will not indicate that you are out of power as well.

Pepco also recommends that when reporting an outage customers request a call back, which means that Pepco will notify customers to ensure power has been restored. The call back process helps Pepco during the area-based restoration process to locate outages that may be specific to customers' homes, such as an issue with the service wire to an individual house.

To keep up to date, customers are encouraged to visit www.pepco.com and frequently listen to local radio stations for updates.