By noon Saturday (6/27) PP&L, Inc. had finished restoring electrical service to Lancaster and Harrisburg area customers affected by a series of severe thunderstorms Friday afternoon (6/26).

At the peak, the storms caused about 17,000 PP&L, Inc. customers in the Lancaster and Harrisburg areas to lose service, said Robert M.Geneczko, the utility's vice president of Power Delivery. Most of the damage was caused by heavy lightning, rain and wind.

PP&L, Inc. sent crews from the Lehigh Valley area to assist in the service restoration in Lancaster.

With service to PP&L, Inc. customers restored, the utility has responded to a request from Philadelphia-based PECO Energy for assistance in storm-restoration work in the Berwyn and Paoli areas, Geneczko said. PP&L, Inc. has sent 22 line crews and four supervisors, along with service vehicles to assist PECO Energy under a utility mutual-aid agreement.

Geneczko offered thanks to PP&L, Inc.'s customers for their patience and understanding following Friday's storms. "We appreciate the inconvenience that loss of electric service causes," he said.

PP&L, Inc. , a subsidiary of PP&L Resources, Inc., provides electricity delivery service to 1.2 million customers in eastern and central Pennsylvania, sells retail electricity throughout the state of Pennsylvania and markets wholesale electricity in 25 states and Canada.