Press release
ComEd Restores Power to Nearly 134,000 Customers Following Damaging Ice Storms
Nearly 1,700 crews work around the clock to restore power quickly and safely throughout northern Illinois Video footage of crews restoring outages:
About this update from Exelon Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"\nNearly 1,700 crews work around the clock to restore power quickly and safely throughout northern Illinois\n\nVideo footage of crews restoring outages: https://vimeo.com/801412568/35e12af7cd\n\n CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nDespite the challenge of working in icy conditions, ComEd crews have restored power to nearly 134,000 customers throughout the communities it serves after severe ice storms moved through northern Illinois Wednesday and Thursday.\n\nThe storms damaged trees and equipment, causing power outages for approximately 216,000 customers. Nearly 1,700 ComEd and contractor crews will be working around the clock to restore power to customers. ComEd expects that power will be restored to 80 percent of customers by 11 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23. To support this restoration goal, ComEd has called upon utilities from across the region, and 900 additional crew members will arrive in Illinois today to support safe and swift recovery efforts.\n\n“At ComEd, our hard-working field forces train for challenging conditions, and that training has certainly been put to the test today as they work around the clock to safely restore power to our customers in these icy and windy conditions,” said Terence R. Donnelly, president and COO of ComEd. “We recognize that any outage is frustrating to our customers, especially during freezing conditions, and we thank them for their patience as we work to restore the remaining outages as quickly as we can.”\n\nThe combination of widespread ice and high winds has led to a multi-day recovery effort to restore all the customers affected by this storm. Layers of ice on trees, roads and equipment create additional hazards for utility crews leading to additional outages and longer restoration times well after the storm has passed. While many impacted customers have been restored, some customer outages in pockets with the most significant damage may last until late Saturday night, Feb. 25, or early Sunday morning, Feb. 26. As of 9 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, nearly 82,000 customers remain without service.\n\nComEd has been investing in power grid upgrades and tree trimming to minimize the impact of storms. Since smart grid upgrades began in 2011, ComEd has avoided more than 19 million power outages – saving more than $3.3 billion in outage-related costs – and improved overall reliability by more than 80 percent. ...