FirstEnergy Utility Crews Have Restored Service to More than 90 Percent of Customers Affected by Hurricane Irene

AKRON, Ohio, Sept. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As flooding subsides and crews are able to access more of the damaged areas, FirstEnergy (NYSE: FE) has restored service to more than 850,000 of the 920,000 Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L), Metropolitan Edison (Met-Ed), Pennsylvania Electric Company (Penelec) and Potomac Edison customers affected by Hurricane Irene.  The company expects to restore service to the majority of the remaining customers by the end of the weekend.

Prior to this, flooded areas, particularly in northern New Jersey, made it impossible for company crews to access many of the damaged areas and restore service.  

More than 4,500 FirstEnergy employees have been working around the clock to restore power to customers.  As part of this effort, other FirstEnergy crews that have been performing restoration work in other areas of the company will be redeployed to the hardest hit JCP&L areas over the next several days.  In addition, about 100 line workers from outside utilities and contractors are arriving in New Jersey and Pennsylvania today, with more scheduled to arrive tomorrow, to help FirstEnergy make continued progress.

"FirstEnergy belongs to multiple mutual assistance groups that allow utilities to help each other in emergency restoration efforts such as those following Hurricane Irene," said Charles E. Jones, president, FirstEnergy Utilities.  "In the past, we have assisted many of our neighboring utilities that experienced outages after large-scale weather events.  Now, that these crews have completed restoration work in other states, they can help our crews with the restoration process."

In addition to the previously mentioned FirstEnergy utilities, line workers, damage assessors, hazard responders, call center representatives and forestry crews from the following FirstEnergy companies also have been involved in the Hurricane Irene restoration effort: Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, Pennsylvania Power, Toledo Edison, West Penn Power, and Mon Power.

Based on current damage assessments, the following estimated service restoration times have been established:

• JCP&L – Overall, more than 603,000 of the 670,000 affected customers have had power restored.  A majority of the remaining 67,000 customers should have power restored by the weekend, with full restoration expected by early next week.  

• Met-Ed – More than 191,000 customers have been restored at this time, down from a peak of 200,000.  A majority of the remaining 9,000 customers should have power restored by Sunday.

• Penelec – The majority of the 37,000 customers affected by Hurricane Irene have had power restored, with repairs continuing today in some isolated locations.  Penelec crews also are in the process of restoring service to several thousand customers who lost power when thunderstorms moved through its service area this morning.  

Hurricane Irene also affected 19,000 customers in Maryland served by Potomac Edison.  Service was restored to all of these customers by Monday, and FirstEnergy crews and other support personnel involved in that restoration effort were deployed to JCP&L areas.  

To report an outage, JCP&L, Met-Ed and Penelec customers should call 1-888-LIGHTSS (1-888-544-4877) – it's the fastest way to begin the restoration process.

For updated information on hurricane restoration news, current outages, FirstEnergy's storm restoration process and tips for staying safe after a storm, go to www.firstenergycorp.com.

JCP&L serves 1.1 million customers in 13 New Jersey counties, and Met-Ed serves 560,000 customers in 13 Pennsylvania counties.  Other FirstEnergy utilities impacted by Hurricane Irene include Penelec, which serves 600,000 customers in 31 Pennsylvania counties, and Potomac Edison, which serves approximately 250,000 customers in seven Maryland counties and 135,000 customers in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.  

FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company dedicated to safety, reliability and operational excellence.  Its 10 electric distribution companies comprise the nation's largest investor-owned electric system.  Its diverse generating fleet features non-emitting nuclear, scrubbed baseload coal, natural gas, and pumped-storage hydro and other renewables, and has a total generating capacity of approximately 23,000 megawatts.

SOURCE FirstEnergy