CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Despite the challenge of working in extremely hot conditions, ComEd crews have restored power to more than 100,000 customers throughout its service area after storms with heavy rain and powerful wind gusts up to 80 MPH moved through northern Illinois on Monday night. To help customers who remain without power stay cool as area temperatures surge, ComEd has made cooling buses and care vans available at several locations.
The storm disrupted service to approximately 125,000 customers. ComEd exceeded its plan to restore 80 percent of customers by 3 pm on Tuesday, June 14, by more than two hours; surpassing this goal has allowed ComEd to redirect even more resources toward those customers who remain without power.
“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 in extremely hot and humid temperatures to quickly and safely restore power to our customers,” said Terence Donnelly, ComEd’s President and Chief Operating Officer. “We recognize that any outage is frustrating to our customers, especially in these hot conditions, and we thank them for their patience as we work to restore the remaining outages as quickly as we can.”
Approximately 875 ComEd and contractor crews are working around the clock to get all remaining customers restored. While a majority of customers have already been restored, some customer outages in pockets with the most significant damage may last until Wednesday afternoon. As of 3 p.m. on Tuesday, June 14, approximately 13,000 customers remain without service.
To help customers without power stay cool, ComEd has set up cooling buses, which are equipped with air conditioning, at the following locations:
- Westchester Village Hall (10300 W Roosevelt Rd, Westchester, IL)
- North Riverside Village Hall (2401 Des Plaines Ave, North Riverside, IL)
- Roselle Municipal Complex (31 S Prospect St., Roselle, IL)
- Brook Park School (1214 Raymond Ave, La Grange Park, IL)
ComEd has also set up care vans, which are equipped with charging stations, water and outage information, at the following locations:
- Westchester Village Hall (10300 W Roosevelt Rd, Westchester, IL)
- Lyons Village Hall (4100 Joliet Ave, Lyons, IL)
Additional care vans and cooling buses are being dispatched to other communities with remaining outages; to view updated van and bus locations, visit the ComEd outage map, which is available at https://www.comed.com/Outages/CheckOutageStatus/Pages/OutageMap.aspx.
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 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 are encouraged to contact ComEd immediately if they are experiencing a power outage or have a safety concern. 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.
