Pepco Nearing Full Restoration; Power Back for 95 Percent of Customers

Washington, D.C. (March 4, 2018) – Pepco, local contractors, and other assistance crews continue to make progress and are nearing full restoration of power to customers in the wake of Winter Storm Riley. Of the more than 252,000 customers who lost power, 95 percent were restored within 48 hours. As of 6 p.m. Sunday, roughly 6,200 customers in the Pepco region remain without power.

Power is expected to be restored to the vast majority of remaining customers, including all schools and critical facilities, such as nursing homes, tonight. Although we are making every effort to restore power sooner, a small number of customers in the most heavily damaged areas may not be restored until sometime Tuesday.

“Our crews have made great strides, working in challenging conditions, to restore service for our customers,” said Tyler Anthony, Pepco Holdings senior vice president and Chief Operating Officer. “Our efforts will not stop until every customer is back online. We know that an extended outage is very frustrating for customers, and we appreciate their patience as our crews work to get them fully restored following this devastating storm.”

Pepco’s entire Emergency Response Organization has been mobilized with all company resources dedicated to restoring service to customers safely and as efficiently as possible. In addition, crews from Pepco’s sister utility in Illinois, ComEd, are assisting in the restoration effort here.

The extensive damage associated with these outages makes restoring service to remaining customers especially complex. Damaged trees must be removed from power lines before repairs can be completed, extending the duration of some power restorations. While outages continue to decrease, much of the remaining work on the system is extremely labor intensive and time consuming.

Customers can visit Pepco’s website at pepco.com, use the mobile app, or contact the company at 1-877-PEPCO-62 (1-877-737-2662) for the latest estimate of when service will be restored to their home. It is important for customers to understand that these estimates can, and do, change. Estimated restoration times are based on current conditions and damage. When Pepco crews arrive on site and assess damage for a particular outage, the crew will provide an updated estimated restoration time. The company then continues to update the estimated restoration time as crews complete their work.

Restoration times for specific outages may change frequently. In some situations, an outage may even be reported as restored, when in fact, an outage remains. This is the result of a ‘nested outage’ – additional damage that remains somewhere else along an electric circuit or line after a larger issue has been resolved.

Pepco remains focused on the safety of employees, customers, and the communities it serves. As work continues, Pepco urges customers to take precautions for their safety; stay away from downed power lines and report them to Pepco immediately.

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About Pepco: Pepco, a public utility owned by Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), provides safe and reliable energy to more than 842,000 electric delivery customers in Maryland and the District of Columbia.