PEPCO on Severe Weather
The following is pulled from an email from PEPCO on the recent severe weather.
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What do we want customers to know/do
We understand that the health crisis we are facing has increased our customer’s reliance on the essential energy service we provide as they work from home, take care of their families and educate their children. We are working hard to maintain reliable service and respond to outages as quickly as possible, as we know service interruptions due to a storm can add additional stress during these challenging times. While we are committed to restoring service safely and as quickly as possible for all customers, we have a heightened focus on restoring service first for hospitals, nursing homes, and other critical facilities. This follows our normal restoration process during a storm, which prioritizes addressing life-threatening, safety and health situations, including critical customers such as hospitals, nursing homes, and fire and police facilities. We then work to repair equipment that will restore power to the greatest number of customers first.
What our Customers Can Do
- Customers who need power for critical medical equipment should be prepared to relocate to a facility with electricity in case there is a power outage.
- Have a supply of bottled water and easy-to-prepare, non-perishable foods available.
- Charge cell phones and other mobile devices. Consider backup chargers.
- Have a flashlight with fresh batteries on each floor of your home.
- More tips available at pepco.com/storm.
- If storm damage does occur:
- Always stay away from any storm damaged electrical equipment, especially downed power lines and tree limbs that may come into contact with power lines.
- Check on elderly neighbors and relatives.
- Don't connect your generator directly to your home's wiring. Never use a generator indoors or in an attached garage. Read and adhere to the manufacturer's instructions for safe operation.
Reporting Outages and Downed Wires
- Safety is our top priority. We urge our customers to stay away from downed wires and assume any downed wire is energized.
- To report an outage or downed wire, call 1-877-PEPCO-62 (1-877-737-2662) or report and track through our mobile app or our website at pepco.com/storm.
- Customers also can text “Out” to 48710 to report their outage.
- Customers must first text “ADD OUTAGE” to 48710 to sign up for this service.
- Customers also can receive outage alerts by signing up online at pepco.com/Alerts.
- Customers are encouraged to follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/pepco and on Twitter at twitter.com/pepco to get the latest information from the company.
Reporting Outages or Downed Wires; Requesting Call Backs
- Customers’ reports are vital to Pepco’s restoration efforts. Pepco also recommends that, when reporting an outage, customers request an automated call when their power is restored.
- Call backs allow Pepco to notify customers when work in their area is completed and they also help Pepco locate outages that may be specific to customers’ homes.
In closing, nothing is more important than the health and safety of our employees, contractors and customers. We are following CDC guidance and taking proactive steps to ensure the safety of our people and customers. Our field workers who are doing essential work to provide safe and reliable energy service for our customers are taking additional precautions to ensure their safety and the safety of our customers. To ensure the safety of our employees and customers while restoration work is being completed, we ask customers to please practice social distancing with our crews, as they work to restore service in your area. When coming into contact with a customer, crews must attempt to keep a distance of approximately six feet from the nearest person while working and avoid congregating in any common areas. Our workforce is being reminded to wash their hands, avoid touching their face and maximize social distancing whether offsite or at any of our locations.