Crews Were Held Prior to Storm - More on the Way

Washington , D.C. - Pepco crews have restored power to nearly 20,000 customers and are working to return service to some 80,000 customers without electric service. The fast moving morning rush hour storm swept through the Washington Metropolitan Area with winds of 60 miles an hour splitting and downing trees, severely damaging buildings and the electric system.

As Pepco crews began their workday, the violent storm tore through Montgomery County leaving tens of thousands of people in the county and the entire Washington Metropolitan Region without electric service. Crews immediately began an aggressive restoration effort that included assessing the damage and making repairs.

"We have a full contingent of Pepco crews and all available contract crews working on restoring power. Additional contract crews have joined the effort through out the day," said Thomas Graham, Pepco Region President.

Mutual assistance crews are in route to help with the restoration effort. Customers may experience multiple outages as crews work on sections of the electric system restoring power.

Customers should call 1-877-PEPCO-62 (1-877-737-2662) for outages and downed wires.

• That outage reporting number can handle up to 100,000 calls per hour, and was instituted to respond to unusually large numbers of outages, like those caused by today's storm.
• Safety Messages

o Stay away from downed power lines

o Stay away from standing water and wet areas

o Keep children and pets inside

Our restoration process is as follows:

1) Life Threatening Emergencies / Assist Fire/Police

2) Transmission & Sub-Transmission Events - Typically restores several thousands of customers.

3) Distribution Feeder Lockouts - Typically restores 800-2,000 each.

4) Vicinity & Grouped Outages - Typically restores several dozen to a hundred customers.

5) Individual Outages - One or two restorations each.

To protect your home and belongings if the power is out:

• Turn off all appliances, including your furnace, air conditioner, water heater, and water pump. That way, you can avoid a circuit overload and another outage that may result when power is restored to all appliances at once.
• Leave on one lamp so you will know that the power has been restored.

For more safety and emergency preparedness tips, log onto the Pepco Storm Center at www.pepco.com.

###

Pepco, a subsidiary of Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM), delivers safe, reliable and affordable electric service to more than 778,000 customers in Maryland and the District of Columbia.