ComEd Restores 95 Percent of Customers Affected by Devastating Storm

CHICAGO, July 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobilizing the largest restoration force in ComEd history, the utility restored power to 95 percent of the 850,000 customers who were affected by one of the most severe storms on record, achieving its accelerated goal of restoring 95 percent of customers by midnight Thursday.  All remaining customers still without electricity could be back on line Friday.

With heavy rain, 18,000 lightning strikes and wind gusts of 80 mph, the storm toppled trees, snapped hundreds of utility poles and brought down miles of power lines.

ComEd has already replaced nearly 50 miles of wire and close to 300 poles and those numbers continue to grow. Comparable storms in terms of wind speed and customer impact are the hurricane storms that hit the U.S. coasts. Restoration times in those storms ranged from seven to 10 days.

"We understand that patience can be challenging particularly for those customers who are still without power," said Frank M. Clark, ComEd chairman and chief executive officer. "We are using all the resources available to us, including crews from more than a dozen states, allowing us to restore service faster than any time in the last decade."

With a contingent of 850 ComEd and out-of-state utility crews, working around the clock, less than 43,000 customers remain without power.  ComEd restored more than 807,000 customers as of 11 p.m. Thursday.  

"Our customers and municipal leaders have been extremely patient during this time and it is greatly appreciated," said Anne R. Pramaggiore, ComEd president and chief operating officer. "We also are grateful to every ComEd employee, in the field and behind the scenes, as well as the hundreds of out-of-state crews who have worked together to expedite our restoration as we recover from this devastating storm."

The company continues to hold daily conference calls with municipalities, and provide status updates 24/7 via Twitter. Customers can also obtain updates via the Storm Center at ComEd.com.

Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), one of the nation's largest electric utilities with approximately 5.4 million customers. ComEd provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state's population.

SOURCE ComEd

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