Met-Ed Crews Focused on Completing Restoration by Late Friday Evening

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Mar 09, 2018, 11:14 ET

READING, Pa., March 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Metropolitan Edison Company (Met-Ed) utility personnel continue to make steady progress restoring power following two massive winter storms in the company's southeastern Pennsylvania service territory. The company expects to have the majority of the remaining affected customers returned to service by late this evening.

Met-Ed is assisted by crews from 14 states traveling from as far away as Louisiana. These additional crews have contributed to a total response force of more than 2,200 personnel – more than 1,000 of which are line workers. This robust restoration team continues to focus on the largest outages while prioritizing customers who have been without power the longest. At this stage of the restoration process, the necessary repairs tend to be more difficult and time-consuming.

"We know it's frustrating to be without power for an extended period and we want to thank our customers for their support throughout this process," said Ed Shuttleworth, regional president of Met-Ed. "We're in the home stretch now and will not stop working until the last customer is restored."

About 248,000 customers lost power following the original storm, with some additional outages and blocked roads resulting from the second storm. Approximately 7,000 customers remain out of service, located primarily in Pike and Monroe counties. While crews are working to complete restoration in the hardest-hit areas by late Friday night, many customers will be returned to service sooner.

As part of its storm restoration process, Met-Ed has taken the following steps:

Ramped up storm updates on social media and on the company website. Follow Met-Ed on Twitter @Met Ed and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MetEdElectric
Aired radio ads telling customers how to prepare for storms
Initiated update calls with officials
Communicated with emergency management officials, state officials, regulators, and local officials about storm restoration efforts
Staffed additional dispatchers and analysts at regional dispatch offices

Met-Ed also is offering free water and ice to customers remaining out of service. Customers can pick up water and ice at the following locations:

Giant Food Store, 3560 Route 611, Stroudsburg, Pa.
Giant Food Store, 837 Male Road, Windgap, Pa.
Giant Food Store, 859 Nazareth Pike, Nazareth, Pa.
Dingmans Volunteer Fire Department, 680 Log Tavern Road, Milford, Pa.
Bushkill Volunteer Fire Department, 123 Evergreen Drive, Bushkill, Pa.

Met-Ed reminds customers to immediately report downed wires to their utility at 888-LIGHTSS (888-544-4877), or to their local police or fire department. Customers should never go near a downed wire even if they think it is no longer carrying electricity. Extra caution should be used in areas where downed lines are tangled in trees or other debris.

Met-Ed, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), serves approximately 560,000 customers in 15 Pennsylvania counties. Follow Met-Ed on Twitter @Met Ed and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MetEdElectric.

FirstEnergy is dedicated to safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its 10 electric distribution companies form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. The company's transmission subsidiaries operate more than 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Visit FirstEnergy online at www.firstenergycorp.com and follow on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp.

Editor's Note: Photos of crews repairing storm damage are available for download on Flickr.

SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.