PPL Electric Utilities is gearing up to handle any possible electrical outages that may arise from a major winter snowstorm during the President's Day holiday weekend.

"We've begun calling in extra linemen where we expect roads to be impassable, pre-positioning crews at key facilities so they can respond as quickly as possible to customers," said John Sipics, vice president of Asset Management for PPL Electric Utilities.

Only a handful of outages have been reported as of mid-afternoon today (2/16) even though significant snowfall has accumulated already in the Lancaster and Harrisburg regions of the company's service territory.

"Roads are expected to become slippery this evening," Sipics said. "We're equipping our vehicles with tire chains, but even so we're expecting some delay in responding to outages."

PPL's customer service center will remain staffed for the duration of the storm. Customers can report power outages 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling a toll-free customer service number: 1-800-342-5775 (1-800-DIAL PPL).

If there is a wire on the ground, call PPL immediately at the toll-free customer service phone number. PPL Electric Utilities reminds people not to go near downed wires; the wires may be covered over with snow. Let PPL professionals take care of the problem.