UPDATE from PEPCO

·        Much of the work completed thus far by PEPCO was on the backbone of the system --  the subtransmission and substation supply feeders. That work occurs largely out of the public view on company-owned rights of way, not on the local streets and in neighborhoods. Restoring substations and supply feeders sets the stage for the more visible work (and higher-numbered outage reductions) that occur when the crews are able to turn to the job of fixing distribution feeders which are those supplying power to residences and businesses.  

·        Now that we’ve gotten major backbone work done, customers should see more crews on the street in the next few days.

·        We will work around the clock until restoration is completed. Restoration may take as long as a week until essentially all customers are restored.

·        Our focus is on restoring service as quickly and safely as possible, starting with major electrical equipment and critical facilities

·        We are continuing to seek outside crew reinforcements to aid in the restoration effort.  This has been made difficult because of the number of utilities that are requesting assistance from other crews.

·        Crews are working around the clock to restore power even though customers may not always see Pepco trucks. Crews may be working on circuits and substations that supply the power to a customer’s residence or business, but that are not in visual range.
 
·        As supported by the local Emergency Management Agencies in DC, Montgomery County, and Prince George's County, Pepco encourages the use of malls for customers to get out of the heat while power continues to be restored.


How We Restore Power
1.        Our damage assessment and restoration process begins as soon as storm conditions allow for our personnel to proceed safely with gathering information and determining the extent of the damage.
2.        It is important to undertake restoration work in a sequence that restores the largest number of customers first.  We also give priority to hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities with special public needs.
3.        Our priorities include the following:
i.        Downed live wires or potentially life-threatening situations
ii.        High priority customers such as public health and safety facilities
iii.        Transmission lines serving thousands of customers
iv.        Substation equipment
v.        Main distribution lines serving large numbers of customers
vi.        Secondary lines serving neighborhoods
4.        Pepco cannot provide restoration priority to individual customers when there are extensive power outages. [Refer to Emergency Medical Equipment Notification Program.] If customers or their family members need life-support equipment that requires electricity to operate, they should go to an alternate location with power.
5.        Though we are sensitive to the challenges associated with a loss of power, the designation of a particular outage as an ‘emergency’ is limited to those circumstances that present life threatening conditions such as downed live wires.

REPORT DOWNED WIRES even if you have no power so that when they come up they don't go live and endanger anyone.  TO REPORT DIAL 1-877-PEPCO62!