Electric utilities across the U.S. Eastern seaboard scrambled
Monday to restore service to the millions of customers left without
power by Hurricane Irene, but 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, though some utilities in North Carolina and
New Jersey on Monday signaled they could deal with the majority of
the outages by this 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. said about 94,900
customers were without power as of Monday morning, down from
120,600 late Sunday, and it expects to restore power to 85% of
affected customers by midnight. Some 99% of all impacted customers
should see their power restored by midnight Wednesday. In the areas
hardest hit by floods and sustained severe damage, work will
continue into Thursday, the company said.
In Virginia and North Carolina, some 600,752 Dominion Resources
Inc. customers were still without electricity, down from 825,971
late Sunday.
Baltimore Gas and Electric, a unit of Constellation Energy Group
Inc., said there were 345,414 outages in its Maryland grid-down
from 453,551 late Sunday. The company says it has restored power to
336,572 users.
In the Washington, D.C., area Pepco Holdings Inc. reported
51,145 customers without electricity, less than the 173,941 seen
late Sunday.
Pepco's Delmarva Power & Light in Delaware reported 33,795
customers suffering outages, down from 100,354 on Sunday.
In New Jersey, PSE&G, a subsidiary of Public Service
Enterprise Group Inc. said about 200,000 of its 2.2 million
electric customers were without power, down from 330,000 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," but those households and businesses located in
flooded areas "should be prepared for lengthy outages" until waters
recede.
Pepco's Atlantic City Electric in southern New Jersey said there
were 52,443 users without electricity, down from 108,457 Sunday.
Jersey Central Power and Light said there were 367,944 customers
without power, down from 373,000 Sunday. Orange & Rockland said
55,051 customers were without electricity.
In New York state, the Long Island Power Authority reported that
371,226 customers were out of power. Consolidated Edison Inc. said
on its website that 89,152 customers were without power, down from
106,816 Sunday. LIPA expects 90% of customers' power on the island
to be restored by the end of the day Friday. Monday morning, the
utility had 1,500 workers out on the streets assessing damage, and
about half of the assessments along LIPA's main power lines were
complete, LIPA said in a conference call.
In Connecticut, Connecticut Light & Power said there were
591,088 customers without service, or 47% of its total customer
base, 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.
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.
Some power customers in Massachusetts could be facing long
blackouts, local utilities warned. NStar had about 200,000 outages
as of 8 a.m. Monday, with the impact widespread throughout its
service territory in eastern Massachusetts, although areas around
the south shore including New Bedford were particularly hard hit.
National Grid, the other big electric utility in New England's most
populous state, had more than 330,000 customers off line Monday
morning.
A National Grid spokeswoman cited "extensive damage,"
particularly in western parts of the state that took a more direct
hit, and said "we're looking at a multiday event" to recover. The
utility is focused on public safety right now, she said, and is
responding to critical customers like hospitals and fire
departments. Downed trees and flooding in the west have isolated
some towns, making access a problem, she said.
-By Angel Gonzalez, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9214;
angel.gonzalez@dowjones.com
--Jon Kamp, Robbie Whelan, Sam Schechner and Erica Orden
contributed to this article.
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