5 p.m. OUTAGE UPDATE; Outages Hit Pepco Service Area

For Immediate Release
September 18, 2003, 5:00 p.m.

5 p.m. OUTAGE UPDATE

Winds Prevent Immediate Restoration Efforts

Hurricane Isabel’s leading edges have hit the Washington area and have already resulted in approximately 68,200 power outages in the District of Columbia, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland. The high winds associated with Isabel pose a danger to crew personnel and are delaying immediate restoration efforts. Once the winds diminish to a safe level Pepco will engage in an around-the-clock effort to restore power, with crews working in 12-hour shifts.

As of 5:00 p.m., the following numbers of outage are reported on the Pepco system:

Total: 68,284

Prince George’s County: 32,081

Montgomery County: 24,419

District of Columbia: 11,784

Those numbers are expected to rise as the storm continues to batter the area, probably well into the late evening and early morning hours.

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About Pepco: For more than 100 years, Pepco has served the people of the Washington metropolitan area with clean, reliable and low-cost electricity. Pepco, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM), provides electricity transmission and distribution services to more than 700,000 customers in the District of Columbia and major portions of Prince George`s and Montgomery County in Maryland.