PPL Electric Utilities crews have been working since before daybreak Thursday (11/13) to restore power to customers who lost service resulting from high winds in excess of 60 mph that downed trees into power lines across a wide area of the Northeast, including the area served by PPL Electric Utilities. Crews will continue working around the clock until all customers are back in service.

Because most trees have dropped their leaves by now, tree damage today is less than what was experienced during Hurricane Isabel.

Customers Restored: 74,225 as of 5 p.m.

Customers Without Power: 43,000 as of 5 p.m.

Affected Areas:
Customers in the Lehigh Valley and in Luzerne and Columbia counties of central Pennsylvania were the hardest hit.

Number of Jobs Pending: 782

Cause of Outages: Downed tree limbs due to high winds

Estimated Restoration Time: With high winds expected to continue through the night, PPL Electric Utilities cannot project definitively when all customers will be back in service until the storm passes. Restoration work in some areas with more severe damage will likely extend into Saturday (11/15).

Additional Information:
PPL is calling customers who are expected to be without power for a prolonged period to provide information about where to go for such things as dry ice and water. For more details or an interview with a PPL Electric Utilities representative, please call the pager numbers listed above.

Customers with special needs should call PPL Electric Utilities’ toll free number at 1-800-342-5775.

During storm emergencies, reporters can view updated PPL Electric Utilities storm information by visiting our news Web site at www.pplnewsroom.com. The StormOutage feature provides system-wide and regional information.