Pepco Warns Lightning Strikes, Auto Accidents, Animals
Can Cause Power Surges and Momentary Outages

Resetting all the clocks and other digital equipment at home can be annoying, but damaged and ruined electronic equipment such as your computer can be devastating.

"Lightning strikes, power dips and momentary outages can ruin sensitive electronic equipment," said Donna Mann, Pepco Customer Advocate. "For that reason, we urge our customers to protect their important electronic equipment with a good surge protector."

Frequent lightning due to thunderstorms are common across the region during the hot, humid days of summer. Unfortunately, that same lightning can send a surge along any conductive line, including your home's electric wiring, TV cable and telephone or computer lines, and damage or destroy anything in its path.

Pepco works year-round to maintain reliability, but there's no guarantee that electric service will not be affected by lightning or by any number of things such as a vehicle hitting a utility pole or an animal entangled in the wires.

Electrical surge protectors can be purchased at most hardware or home improvement stores. Simply plug in your appliance and plug the protector into a wall outlet. Even more protection can be obtained from a whole-house surge protector installed at the main circuit panel, which should only be done by a licensed electrician.

Donna Mann also states, "It's a good idea to plug computers and other sensitive electronic equipment into a separate grounded circuit to isolate them from fluctuations caused when a major appliance starts, such as a room air conditioner or refrigerator."

When lightning strikes or the power goes off even for a few seconds, you can lose important computer data. So if you are running a business or have important documents on your computer, you may want to invest in an Uninterruptible Power Supply unit (UPS). In addition to surge protection, UPS units have a battery back up that allows your records to be saved if the power goes out unexpectedly.

To know more about saving energy, visit www.pepco.com.

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Pepco, a subsidiary of Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM), delivers safe, reliable and affordable electric service to more than 750,000 customers in Maryland and the District of Columbia.