PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In the 72 hours since damaging Hurricane Irene moved through our region, PECO’s massive field force has restored service to nearly all of the half million customers who were without power. Crews are currently focused on remaining jobs, each of which could require hours and hours of work. Service for a small number of customers, with the most isolated damage, will be restored before the weekend.
Working 12 to 16 hour shifts – around the clock – more than 4,000 PECO employees, contractors and workers (from as far away as Pittsburgh, Florida, Michigan and PECO’s Chicago-based sister utility ComEd) have worked tirelessly to repair damage and restore service to customers.
In total PECO field forces have completed thousands of repair jobs. Crews have replaced:
- 82 miles of wire
- 13,270 fuses
- 1,993 cross arms
- 190 poles
- 114 transformers
Hurricane Irene left nearly 7 million customers without power in 14 U.S. states according to the Department of Energy. Currently hundreds of thousands of customers are still without service along the East Coast and in neighboring states. Ranking as one of the top five worst storms in PECO history, the storm brought 10 inches of torrential rains and more than 24 hours of winds gusting up to 75 mph.
In addition to efforts to restore electric service, PECO will continue to work with communities that suffered extensive flooding. Electric and natural gas service will be restored to these areas when it is safe to do so.
Based in Philadelphia, PECO is an electric and natural gas utility subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC). PECO serves 1.6 million electric and 490,000 natural gas customers in southeastern Pennsylvania and employs about 2,400 people in the region. PECO delivered 87.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 39.5 billion kilowatt-hours-hours of electricity in 2010. Founded in 1881, PECO is one of the Greater Philadelphia Region's most active corporate citizens, providing leadership, volunteer and financial support to numerous arts and culture, education, environmental, economic development and community programs and organizations.
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