The following message has been broadcast and posted by ComEd as an updated status of their storm restoration efforts.
On Sunday, November 25, a significant winter storm hit the entire ComEd service area. Heavy, wet snow, high winds in excess of 50 miles per hour, and ice brought down wires and resulted in broken poles, causing over 350,000 customers to lose power. While impassable roads and blowing snow impacted ComEd’s initial restoration efforts, ComEd restored power to over 276,000 customers – 76% of those impacted – within the first 24 hours after the storm. Approximately 70,000 customers remain out of power. We understand that losing your power is frustrating, and we appreciate your patience as we work to restore service to each and every customer.
In anticipation of the storm, ComEd increased crew staffing and proactively opened its Emergency Operations Center. Since the storm left the area, ComEd crews have continued restoration efforts throughout the day and are working around the clock to restore power to your area. ComEd is utilizing all its crews and contractors to return customers to service as quickly and safely as possible. Given the extent of the damage, we have also asked utilities across the country for assistance, and over 800 line workers will arrive as early as Tuesday to help. This includes employees and contractors from ComEd’s sister utilities BGE, PECO, and Pepco Holdings in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, in addition to other crews from as far away as Oklahoma and Florida. These additional resources will help us to accelerate our restoration efforts.
Based on past storms of similar size, we expect that the vast majority of customers will have power restored by Wednesday. Some pockets that experienced the greatest damage and single customer outages may take longer. ComEd expects that all customers will be restored by Thursday night. As crews are assigned to restore specific outages, more precise restoration information will be available.
Please continue to report outages and downed power lines at comed.com, or if you’ve already subscribed to Outage Alerts, text OUT to 26633 (COMED) to report an outage, or text STAT to 26633 and it will give you the most updated information about your outage. You can also use the free ComEd Mobile App on your iPhone® or Android™® device or call 1-800-EDISON-1.
Crews made significant progress overnight the entire Skokie Region is down under 5,000 customers out of power (4,911). Yesterday’s day crews will be starting work shortly and support from other utilities should be arriving throughout today.