High winds are expected through Saturday afternoon and could cause additional damage and outages.
CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–After significant thunderstorms, wind and tornados moved through northern Illinois Friday evening, ComEd crews have restored power to more than 70,000 customers. The hardest hit areas are the northern and western areas of Illinois including Rockford and Dixon. Approximately 23,000 customers remain without power as of 8:00 am, Saturday, April 1 while ComEd and contractor crews work 24/7 to restore service to all remaining customers as quickly and safely as possible.
The storms damaged trees and equipment, causing power outages for approximately 94,000 customers. Over 500 ComEd and contractor crews are working around the clock to restore power to customers. ComEd expects that power will be restored to 80 percent of customers by later today, April 1, and nearly all customers no later than Sunday afternoon, on April 2. A small number of customers requiring significant repairs may take longer to restore.
“ComEd crews are hard at work throughout the region to restore power to customers following last night’s severe weather,” said Dave Perez, senior vice-president of Distribution Operations at ComEd. “We recognize that any outage is frustrating to our customers, and we thank everyone for their patience as we work to safely repair damaged equipment and restore service to our customers as quickly as possible.”
Following the Friday storms, high winds, with gusts up to 45 miles per hour, are expected through Saturday afternoon, which can tear down branches, further damaging ComEd equipment and resulting in additional power outages. ComEd has called in additional crews from out of state to help restore customers throughout the weekend.
ComEd has been investing in power grid upgrades and tree trimming to minimize the impact of storms. Since smart grid upgrades began in 2011, ComEd has avoided more than 19 million power outages—saving more than $3.3 billion in outage-related costs—and improved overall reliability by more than 80 percent. In 2022, ComEd delivered its best reliability ever and was recognized with the ReliabilityOne Award for having the most resilient power grid in the U.S.
ComEd prioritizes repairs that will bring back the greatest number of customers at once, and focuses on critical services, such as hospitals, senior centers, law enforcement and fire departments. 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 downed 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 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.
Contacts
ComEd Media Relations
312-394-3500