WASHINGTON — Pepco officials say they’re ready for what could be a rough winter.
“We stand prepared to restore power as safely and as efficiently as we can,” said Mike Sullivan, Pepco’s Senior Vice President of Operations and Engineering.
More than 150 internal lineman, 250 contractors and more than 200 tree crews are working nonstop, Sullivan said. Pepco can call sister companies Delmarva Power and Atlantic City Electric if extra resources are needed.
Freezing rain is usually the first thing Pepco deals with during the winter. The agency starts seeing outages when there’s a quarter-inch of ice on tree limbs and power lines.
As for when Pepco restores power, Sullivan said the agency tries to restore critical care facilities first. Then water treatment plants and hospitals.
“Then we slowly work our way through the transmission system, getting the large transmission lines up, substations, main distribution lines,” Sullivan continued. “And then finally the lines that feed into individual homes and neighborhoods.”
So make sure you have an emergency kit at home.
“Things like a battery power radio or television, flashlights and first aid kits,” Sullivan said. “Things like that.”
