ComEd Restores Power to 88 Percent of Customers Following Damaging Ice Storms and High Winds
February 23 2023 - 10:49PM
Business Wire
Nearly 2,200 crew members continue to work;
focusing on areas with the most significant damage
Video footage of crews restoring outages:
https://vimeo.com/801771302/8e4be1c7b6
ComEd has restored power to approximately 204,700 customers
throughout the communities it serves, or more than 88 percent of
customers affected by severe ice storms that moved through northern
Illinois Wednesday and Thursday. Icy conditions followed by high
winds damaged trees and equipment, causing power outages for
approximately 231,000 customers.
Nearly 2,200 ComEd and contractor crew members have been working
around the clock to restore power to customers. This includes 900
additional crew members from utilities from across the region who
arrived Thursday to support ComEd’s safe and swift recovery
efforts.
“We recognize any outage is frustrating to our customers and we
thank them for their patience as crews work in challenging
conditions to restore service as quickly as we can,” said Terence
R. Donnelly, president and COO of ComEd. “This storm left
significant damage to counties west of Chicago and along the
Illinois-Wisconsin border. As we continue to restore power to
customers in the hardest-hit communities, the safety of our
customers and our crews remains our top priority.”
The 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
a majority of impacted customers have been restored, a small number
of customer outages in pockets with the most significant damage may
last until late Saturday night, Feb. 25. As of 8 p.m. Thursday,
Feb. 23, approximately 26,000 customers remain without service.
ComEd 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.
In 2022, ComEd delivered its best reliability ever and was
recognized with the ReliabilityOne Award for having the most
resilient power grid in the U.S.
ComEd prioritizes attention on repairs that will bring back the
greatest number of customers, and focuses on critical services,
such as law enforcement, fire departments, hospitals and senior
centers. Crews then move to restoration of individual outages.
The following tips and information encourage customers to stay
safe following severe weather:
- If you encounter a downed power line, immediately call ComEd at
1-800-EDISON-1 (1-800-334-7661).
- Spanish-speaking customers should call 1-800-95-LUCES
(1-800-955-8237).
- Never approach a downed power line. Always assume a power line
is energized and extremely dangerous.
- Check on elderly and other family members and neighbors to
ensure their safety and make alternate arrangements in the event of
an outage.
Customers can sign up for Outage Alerts at ComEd.com/Alerts or
text OUT to 26633 to report their outage and receive restoration
information about when their power may be restored.
ComEd also offers a mobile app for iPhone® and Android™® smart
phones that gives customers the ability to report power outages and
manage their accounts. In addition, customers can report outages
through ComEd’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
ComEd is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ:
EXC), a Fortune 200 energy company with approximately 10 million
electricity and natural gas customers – the largest number of
customers in the U.S. ComEd powers the lives of more than 4 million
customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s
population. For more information visit ComEd.com and connect with
the company on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230223006060/en/
ComEd Media Relations 312-394-3500
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