Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. announced yesterday that the vast majority of customers affected by powerful, fast moving storms across Central Maryland on Sunday evening had been restored. However, due to extensive tree damage in some parts of the service area, particularly in Baltimore County, service to some customers would not be restored until the afternoon.

"This was an extremely violent storm that caused significant damage, and as a result, some of our customers have been without electric service since Sunday evening when the storm passed through our service area," said Stephen J. Woerner, senior vice president of gas and electric operations and planning, BGE. "BGE is making every effort to restore service to these customers as quickly and as safely as possible. We certainly understand our customers' frustration and are reaching out to them directly when feasible, by making telephone calls or sending automated telephone messages providing them with the most updated information available. Although crews continue to work around-the-clock, much of the work involves removing large amounts of tree debris, installing new utility poles and repairing or replacing damaged wires and other equipment. This type of work is very dangerous, time consuming and labor intensive. We thank our customers for their understanding and patience as we work to bring all of our customers back in service." The hardest hit areas of BGE's service area were Baltimore, Carroll and Harford Counties with Baltimore County sustaining the most damage.

With severe weather in the forecast for later this week, there is the possibility that new outages will occur over the next several days. BGE will continue to monitor conditions and take appropriate action. .

Once service restoration begins, BGE's priorities are public safety issues and critical facilities, such as pumping stations, 911 centers and hospitals. Then restoration is generally scheduled so that the greatest number of customers can be restored as quickly and as safely as possible. However, in cases of extended power outages, consideration is also given to customers who have been without service for the longest.

BGE regularly reviews its Electric Delivery Emergency Response Plan to ensure that storm response procedures are current and in line with industry standards. Additionally, thousands of employees, hundreds of pieces of equipment and a fleet of vehicles stand ready to respond to storm related outages affecting BGE's electric system. BGE also remains committed to assisting other utilities whenever and wherever possible, provided it does not impact the utility's ability to respond to emergencies in its service area.