WASHINGTON, D.C. - Pepco is continuing its massive restoration effort with more than 2,700 personnel dedicated to the power restoration effort. Both internal resources and outside reinforcements will work 24/7 and through the July Fourth holiday until power is restored to every customer who lost electricity in last Friday's storm.

The storm that meteorologists are calling a 'derecho' left millions of customers without power across the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions. Both Maryland and the District of Columbia have declared a state of emergency as a result of the severity of the storm and its damaging impact.

Pepco has restored power to more than 60 percent of the 443,000 customers who lost power last Friday and expects the vast majority of customers to have electrical service by 11 p.m., Friday.

On Wednesday evening, Pepco will update estimated restoration times for those customers who may still have no power after that deadline.

"Wednesday won't be a holiday for us at Pepco. We will celebrate after we've got power restored to all our customers," said Thomas H. Graham, President, Pepco Region.

Pepco, with the guidance of local emergency management agencies, has focused on restoring critical care facilities such as nursing homes and auxiliary medical facilities. For example, Deanwood Nursing Home and Dialysis Center and Grand Oak Nursing Home in the District of Columbia and Heartland Health Care Center in Maryland had power restored today. Crews also responded to calls for assistance in Kensington, Md., where downed wires were laying across an elderly customer's entrance, keeping the resident trapped in the home. Crews removed the wires and restored power to the customer. All hospitals were restored Sunday.

Also, field restoration crews have focused on restoring tripped feeders, which are large electric lines that distribute power to up to 1,100 customers within a specific geographic area. At peak, Pepco had about 290 distribution feeders completely out of service. As of today, 200 of those have at least partial service. In addition, Pepco repaired a major substation that lost power today and provides service to 11,000 customers, including National Harbor in Prince George's County.

The company has mobilized about 2,700 personnel for the restoration effort.

· About 1,700 field restoration personnel including:

o 700 power line personnel from out of state;

o 450 tree trimming personnel;

o 320 overhead line contractors;

o 119 internal Pepco line crew members; and

o 140 internal underground and substation personnel.

· In addition, about 265 personnel are mobilized to answer customer calls and about 700 personnel are supporting the restoration effort in other roles.

Customers Asked to Report Power Outages

Customers' reports are vital to Pepco's restoration efforts. Customers are asked to report outages at pepco.com or by calling 1-877-737-2662 and following the prompts on the automated system. If reporting an emergency or another life-threatening situation such as downed wires, customers should immediately call 1-877-737-2662 and follow the appropriate prompts.

Pepco also recommends, when reporting an outage, customers request a call-back. Call-backs allow Pepco to notify customers when work in their area is completed. However, although area work has been completed, not every customer may have been restored, if further damage is located on equipment directly serving a customer's home. The call-backs help the utility to locate outages that are specific to customers' homes and still need to be addressed.

To keep up to date, customers are encouraged to visit www.pepco.com, follow us on Facebook and Twitter at PepcoConnect and download our mobile app at www.pepco.com/mobileapp .

Pepco Encourages Safety Precautions

After severe storms, Pepco urges customers to take safety precautions. Our safety tips include:

· Stay away from downed wires. Call 1-877-737-2662 and follow the prompts to report a downed wire or an outage.

· Avoid crews working in the street. This will keep you and the crews safe, and allow them to work on restoring your power.

· Visit pepco.com for safety tips and follow the advice of your local emergency management officials.

· If you plan to use a portable generator, follow the manufacturer's instructions and use only when necessary. Don't overload it and turn it off at night, while you sleep and when you are away from home.

· Locate a portable generator in a well-ventilated area. Never run it inside, even in your garage, to avoid the potential hazard of carbon monoxide. Do not connect the generator directly into your home's main fuse box or circuit panel.

· Protect food and refrigerated medicine with regular ice in an insulated cooler. If you are without power for more than two hours, refrigerated foods should be placed in a cooler. Foods will stay frozen for 36 to 48 hours in a fully loaded freezer if the door remains closed, and a half-full freezer will generally keep frozen food for up to 24 hours.

· Turn off power to flood-prone basement appliances if it is safe to do so. However, if you have an electrically operated sump pump, you should not turn off the power in your basement.

· Tune in to local news broadcasts for the latest weather and emergency information.

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Pepco, a subsidiary of Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM), delivers safe, reliable and affordable electric service to more than 788,000 customers in Maryland and the District of Columbia.