Pepco crews have restored power to thousands of customers affected by a winter storm that left a coating of ice on power lines and trees throughout the Washington area.  The majority of customers still without power are expected to be restored by midnight tonight.  But high winds are resulting in new outages and slowing restoration efforts.  Several thousand customers are likely to be without power through the night.

All available Pepco personnel and contractors are working as quickly and safely as possible, and additional crews are being brought in as they become available.  Most of the damage is concentrated in southern Prince George's County, where heavy icing of trees and power lines occurred.  Falling limbs and trees pulled down power lines and damaged electrical equipment.
Multiple crews have been assigned to the more than 15 damaged electric feeders in the county, but there is no way to predict when all will be restored because of weather conditions.

The number of customers with power fluctuated throughout the day as customers were restored and new outages occurred. In Prince George's County, falling trees took down high-voltage lines supplying three electric substations, knocking out electric service to customers in the Crain Highway and Oak Grove areas.

Customers are reminded to stay away from downed lines, treating them as if they are live.  Customers are asked to call Pepco at 1-877-PEPCO-62 to report outages, so that resources can be targeted to the hardest hit areas as quickly as possible.

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Pepco, a subsidiary of Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM), delivers safe, reliable and affordable electric service to more than 745,000 customers in Maryland and the District of Columbia.