Utilities Scramble To Restore Power To Millions In Irene's Wake

Electric utilities across the U.S. Eastern seaboard on Monday scrambled to restore service to the millions of customers left without power by tropical storm Irene, although outages continued to cover wide swaths of Maryland, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and other states.

Companies had warned customers to be ready for outages lasting up to several weeks, although on Monday some utilities in North Carolina and New Jersey signaled that they could deal with the majority of the outages by next weekend. In hard-hit Connecticut, however, a local utility said it could take longer than a week to restore power to all households.

Raleigh, N.C.-based Progress Energy Inc. (PGN) said about 120,600 customers were without power as of late Sunday - and it expects to restore power to the majority by midnight Tuesday. About 95% of restorations will be complete by midnight Wednesday, but in the hardest hit areas work will continue into Thursday, the company said.

PSE&G, a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PEG), said that about 205,000 of its 2.2 million electric customers were without power, down from 330,000 on Sunday. The utility says it expects most customers to receive power within 48 hours, "with total restoration of all customers expected within 4 to 6 days."

In Virginia and North Carolina, some 614,861 Dominion Resources Inc. (D) customers were still without electricity, down from 825,971 late Sunday.

Baltimore Gas and Electric, a unit of Constellation Energy Group Inc (CEG), said there were 363,030 outages in its Maryland grid -- down from 453,551 late Sunday. The company says it has restored power to 317,711 users.

In the Washington, D.C., area Pepco Holdings Inc. (POM) reported 60,696 customers without electricity, less than the 173,941 seen late Sunday.

Pepco's Delmarva Power & Light in Delaware reported 44,039 customers suffering outages, down from 100,354 on Sunday.

Pepco's Atlantic City Electric in southern New Jersey said there were 63,844 users without electricity, down from 108,457 on Sunday.

Jersey Central Power and Light said there were 367,944 customers without power-- down from 373,000 on Sunday.

Consolidated Edison Inc. (ED), on its website, indicated that 97,348 customers were without power, down from 106,816 on Sunday.

In Connecticut, Connecticut Light & Power said there were 585,340 customers without service, less than Sunday's figure of 624,529. The utility said late Sunday in its Twitter feed it could be one week or more before all the outages are restored.

The Long Island Power Authority reported that 398,639 customers were out of power.

In Rhode Island more than 280,000 energy customers, representing more than half the households in the state, were experiencing outages, down from a peak of more than 300,000 late Sunday, according to figures from National Grid, a public utility.

- By Angel Gonzalez, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9214; angel.gonzalez@dowjones.com

- Sam Schechner and Erica Orden contributed to this story

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