<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><br><div class="plainMail">Friends and neighbors,<br>I received this from VP PEPCO Region Maryland Affairs Jerry Pasternak<br>and wanted to share it with you. In preperation for Hurricane Irene,<br>Mr. Pasternak thought this information would be helpful in dealing<br>with any concerns. Hopefully all of us will come through this without<br>incident.<br>Dryest wishes,<br>-David<br><br>_____ . . . ___- - - ___ . . . ______ . . . ___ - - - ___ . . . ______<br>. . . ___- - - ___ . . . _____<br><br> Pepco Storm Quick Facts<br><br>Reporting an Outage and the Restoration Process<br>Emergency Phone
Numbers<br>If your power goes out, check to see if your neighbors have power. If your<br>home is the only one without power, check your circuit breakers or fuses<br>to determine if the outage is a result of a household problem. Do not<br>assume we automatically know about your outage. Please contact us<br>immediately.<br>Report outages:<br>1-877-PEPCO-62 (1-877-737-2662)<br><br>Report downed wires and life-threatening emergencies:<br>1-877-Pepco-62 (1-877-737-2662) and press two.<br>TTY: 202-872-2369<br>Outage maps and restoration updates can be accessed online at<br>www.pepco.com. Click on the Your Home tab and select the Outages the<br>Emergency Preparedness page.<br><br>Important Safety Tips<br>If you see a downed power line, stay away from it. Assume that all downed<br>power lines are live and extremely dangerous. Don?t touch any person or<br>object that is in contact with a power line; the current could flow<br>through you. Immediately call the
emergency service number at<br>1-877-Pepco-62 (1-877-737-2662) and press two to report downed wires. Call<br>911 only if there is an associated emergency such as a fire, automobile<br>accident or, if medical assistance is required. Also:<br>· Never attempt to remove trees or limbs from any utility line.<br>Assume all objects touching a power line are energized.<br>· If you use a portable generator during a power outage, always<br>operate it according to the manufacturer?s directions, outside and away<br>from doors and windows to avoid deadly carbon monoxide.<br>· If you have a flooded basement in your home, never attempt to turn<br>off power or operate circuit breakers while standing in water.<br>How We Restore Power<br>Our damage assessment and restoration process begins once the storm has<br>passed and it?s safe for our personnel to proceed with
gathering<br>information and determining the extent of the damage in the affected<br>areas. Your telephone call reporting an outage is vital because it will be<br>combined with other customers? calls and computer programs will analyze<br>that information to make a prediction as to what lines or other equipment<br>may be out of service. This helps our line crews find the locations of the<br>outages more quickly.<br>We then proceed using a system of priorities that have been developed<br>taking into account public safety, community needs and the nature of the<br>electric distribution system.<br>In the event our system is damaged by severe weather, Pepco focuses on<br>restoring power in a sequence that enables power restoration to public<br>health and safety facilities and to the greatest number of customers as<br>quickly as possible. The typical sequence, many of which occur<br>simultaneously, is as follows:<br>1. Downed live wires or
potentially life-threatening situations and<br>public health and safety facilities without power.<br>2. Transmission lines serving thousands of customers.<br>3. Substation equipment.<br>4. Main distribution lines serving large numbers of customers.<br>5. Secondary lines serving neighborhoods.<br>6. Service lines to individual homes and businesses.<br>Outages and Emergency Preparedness<br>Frequently Asked Questions<br>Why does my neighbor have power but I don?t?<br><br>Sometimes, you may notice your neighbor?s lights come back on while you<br>are still without power. There may be several explanations ? it may be<br>that your neighbors are on a different supply line or there may be trouble<br>just on the section of the line supplying your immediate area. The cause<br>of the outage may be isolated to one fuse, one transformer or a group of<br>transformers,
or the problem may be on the service line connected to your<br>residence. If all of your surrounding neighbors? lights are on and you are<br>still without power, check your breaker box for a tripped circuit breaker<br>or blown fuse. If that does not appear to be the case, please call us to<br>report your outage using the outage reporting number 1-877- Pepco-62<br>(1-877-737-2662).<br>Why is Pepco often unable to give out exact restoration times?<br><br>We continually work to improve upon our ability to provide restoration<br>times to customers. Several considerations come into play when estimating<br>restoration times. One important factor, particularly after a large storm,<br>is completion of our damage assessment. Until the assessment is done, it<br>is hard to provide a restoration time, especially in cases where we have<br>sustained massive numbers of outages. Other factors include weather,<br>accessibility to damaged areas, coordination with other
agencies working<br>on the storm restoration such as public works, tree removal, and changing<br>public safety and health priorities, all of which may affect our<br>estimates. We do everything we can to provide an estimate of restoration<br>time as soon as it reasonably can be done. Even then, it is possible that<br>estimates may change during the course of restoration as field crews<br>arrive on the scene.<br>When you call us to report a power outage, we provide an estimate for<br>restoration based on current reported field conditions and predictions<br>from our automated Outage Management System (OMS).<br>When a repair crew arrives on the scene, they may discover additional or<br>more complex problems that require additional time, equipment or crews.<br>They will update the restoration time estimate and we will reflect those<br>changes when you call again to check on the status of the restoration.<br>In recent months we have made many improvements to
help us provide better<br>estimates and more information, including upgrades to our Outage<br>Management System (OMS), improved wires-down, damage assessment and crew<br>management processes, additional cross training for employees who will<br>assist customers during emergency situations, and outage maps displayed in<br>our ?Storm Center?. We?ve also added additional customer service<br>representatives and doubled customer service and emergency phone and<br>voicemail capacities.<br>Why do Pepco crews sometimes leave my neighborhood before power is<br>restored?<br><br>Crews working near your home - even across the street - may be fixing a<br>feeder that does not serve your home or may be securing downed wires for<br>follow-up by repair crews. Or, there could be more than one location on<br>the power line that is damaged. If you see our crews leaving your area<br>without restoring power, another area may need to be repaired to activate<br>your line or
they may need specialized equipment to finish repairs. Also,<br>in severe storms with widespread damage, we may need to physically assess<br>damage before restoration begins. If you see a truck leave your<br>neighborhood before your power goes back on, please rest assured that we<br>are not ignoring your problem.<br>Why is it that when a crew responds to my report of a wire down at my home<br>or neighborhood, they are ?standing by? or not working to get my lights<br>back on?<br><br>Public safety is our number one priority and when we receive a report of a<br>wire down, we will dispatch the closest available line crew to respond.<br>However, in the event of storms where we have massive outages, we may<br>first send other Pepco personnel to: 1) relieve fire services or police<br>personnel until a line crew can arrive, 2) stand by to make sure the area<br>is safe to the public until a line crew can arrive, or 3) if the wire is<br>not Pepco's, identify it
as cable TV, telephone, or other<br>telecommunications wire.<br><br><br>-- <br>David J. Lingua<br>Councilman, Ward 3<br>Town of Riverdale Park, MD<br></div></blockquote></td></tr></table>