Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. expects to complete its recovery today (11/16) from a storm two days ago that blanketed northeastern and central Pennsylvania with heavy, wet snow.

The storm caused power outages for about 80,000 PP&L customers. Line repair crews have worked around the clock since Tuesday (11/14) repairing more than 900 cases of downed wires and broken electrical equipment.

As of 9 a.m. Thursday, about 2,000 PP&L customers remained without power, according to Robert M. Geneczko, PP&L's vice president for Electrical Systems.

"Most of the remaining outages are in rural areas of central Pennsylvania," Geneczko said. "We have placed every available line crew in those areas to restore power as quickly as possible. We will continue in an emergency mode until we have completed the storm cleanup work."

He thanked customers in the areas with the most severe storm damage for their patience, noting that some have been without electricity for more than 24 hours.

Most of the remaining power outages are in the Lock Haven, Sunbury and Mifflintown areas. PP&L expects to complete work in the Mifflintown area by midday and in the Lock Haven and Sunbury areas by this evening.

PP&L has moved line crews from other parts of its service area to central Pennsylvania to help with the recovery effort. More than 100 line crews and a dozen tree removal crews are working in the hardest hit areas to repair storm damage. That number includes 22 line crews provided by PECO Energy Co. of Philadelphia to assist PP&L.

"Electric utilities have mutual aid agreements by which they help one another in emergency conditions if they are able," Geneczko said. "We're grateful for the assistance PECO Energy crews are providing."