For Immediate Release
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Crews Making Significant Progress
NEWARK, Del. - Delmarva Power continues to make significant progress restoring power to customers who lost service following Friday night's violent wind storm. Of the 84,000 customers who lost power, more than 60 percent- 54,000 customers-have been restored. Delmarva Power crews will be working through the weekend to restore power. "There has been a significant amount of damage to our electrical system caused by uprooted trees and snapped poles. We will continue to work around the clock to restore power to these remaining customers," said Delmarva Power Region President Gary Stockbridge. "This has been a massive undertaking, and we will not let up until service to all our customers is restored." This extensive restoration effort has enabled the company to exercise some of the capabilities of newly installed smart meter technology. For example, Delmarva Power is pinging the smart meters to determine whether some customers' service is back on without having to inconvenience the customer, or dispatch a crew to the impacted location. Traditionally the utility has depended heavily on customers calling to report outages in deciding where to most efficiently dispatch crews. The Company also has traditionally telephoned customers to verify restorations. As restoration work progresses, customers may receive more targeted estimated times of restoration (ETR). Delmarva Power Encourages Safety Precautions After severe storms, Delmarva Power urges customers to take safety precautions. Our safety tips include:
Customers Asked to Report Power Outages and Downed WiresCustomers' reports are vital to Delmarva Power's restoration efforts. If you experience an outage or see a downed or damaged power line, call Delmarva Power:
To report a Delmarva natural gas emergency in New Castle County, Del.: 302-454-0317
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Delmarva Power, a public utility owned by Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM), provides safe and reliable energy to more than 500,000 electric delivery customers in Delaware and Maryland and over 121,000 natural gas delivery customers in northern Delaware.