ComEd Says it Will Be Days Before Power is Restored in Hardest Hit Areas
Elmhurst is included in towns ComEd is calling "hardest hit." Comcast customers also experiencing cable and Internet outages.
As of 1 a.m. Monday, many areas in Elmhurst were still without power. Most of the downtown area, including City Hall, was pitch black, and streetlights at some of the city's major intersections, like York Road and North Avenue, still were out.
Comcast customers also are experiencing outages of Internet and cable television service. A Comcast recorded message said the utility esimates repairs to their system will be completed by 1 p.m. Monday.
ComEd released a statement at about 10 p.m. Sunday assuring customers that hundreds of crews are out and working around the clock to restore power.
"As of 8 p.m., power has been restored to over 96,000 customers," the statement said.
The utility is reporting that the hardest hit areas include Lombard, Elmhurst, Wheaton, Carol Stream, Addison, West Chicago, Villa Park and Glen Ellyn.
ComEd deployed its new Mobile Operations Center, which holds 25 ComEd engineers, dispatchers and other storm response team members, to the hard-hit areas. The unit is equipped with communications, satellite and video conferencing technology to "optimize restoration efforts," according to the statement.
ComEd also has been deployed to the Joint Operations Center established by DuPage County, which enables ComEd to "expedite restoration" of electricity.
ComEd said it will take several days to restore the system, which was damaged mainly by lightning and high winds.
"ComEd’s restoration process begins immediately with damage assessment," the statement reads. "This process enables the company to determine hardest hit areas and factors it into restoration times. The company then prioritizes outage restoration to ensure public safety first, such as police and fire, then hospitals and other critical customers, such as pumping stations. Next, ComEd restores feeders, which allows us to return power to the largest numbers of customers at one time, followed by smaller service restorations and individual outages."
ComEd has requested assistance from crews from Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin and Missouri to supplement its efforts.
To report an outage, customers can text OUT to 26633, call (800) 334-7661 or visit ComEd.com.
ComEd also offers the following suggestions for customers experiencing a prolonged outage:
• Turn off all appliances including your air conditioner, water heater and water pump.
• Leave a lamp on so you can know when power has been restored.
• Keep freezer and refrigerator doors closed. Food will stay frozen for 36 to 48 hours in a fully loaded freezer, if the door remains closed. A half-full freezer will generally keep food frozen for 24 hours.
• Customers who are on medical support equipment are strongly encouraged to evacuate to a place where they can be comfortable and safe.
Joseph Richard snodgrass
9:31 am on Monday, July 2, 2012
i feel like i have someone above watching over me we had it on in 5 hours and didnt get hit hard then had sunny day ... makes you wonder huh i live for electricity and technology i owe the people upstairs when i get there
Doremus Jessup
11:01 am on Monday, July 2, 2012
Has anyone seen any Com Ed crews in Elmhurst? I have not seen any, thinking they should put a show on tv called Finding a Repair Crew or Chasing Com Ed, then I could watch it when and if my power comes back on.
Adam
1:08 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
funny i was thinking the same thing this morning, i saw an army of mulching trucks but no comed trucks anywhere in elmhurst, i saw 1 comed truck in oakbrook terrace but thats about it
Doremus Jessup
2:41 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
Adam, looks like we need to draft these landscapers to become Com Ed workers then we could expect some electricity soon.
Scr 390
4:15 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
There was a Com Ed truck parked on our street this morning, but the driver was sleeping...
Jane Birch
1:26 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
They aren't always comed trucks. Comed outsources much of it's line work/repair to subcontractors. I saw a couple of crews in gray and white trucks on madison, east of your yesterday. That part of the city got power back last night around 1am.
Life.Is.Good
1:33 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
Our power was out for approx. 12 hours. Service was restored around midnight. Even though this was an inconvenience, I was happy it was not longer.
julie mladic
1:59 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
I just moved in a few days ago and am not used to power outages! This has been a challenge, but at least we are all ok, our home is ok. Things could be worse!
We'll see if I feel the same way if we still don't have power in a few days.
Clyde Helwink
6:20 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
3 words....Gen-er-ator
Doremus Jessup
2:38 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
Jane, I have seen no one fixing any electricity, not Com Ed, not outsourced crews, no one.
Ilya Archokovsky
3:12 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
They were all over Villa Park yesterday.....
Eric
3:13 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
Then get out of your mother's basement. Unless they are your toy trucks, I don't like your chances of seeing any of the crews down there. Drove by a comed crew on Spring about 2 hours ago.
Doremus Jessup
3:26 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
I wonder if electricity aggregation moved Elmhurst to the back of the line?
Independence666
5:38 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
Could be. Remember, you get what you pay for.
Eric
3:51 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
Over 200 cities have left Comed already and Chicago is next. If Elmhurst was moved to the back of the line, we have a lot of company.
Steve
4:05 am on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Electric aggregation has nothing to do with power transmission. Our power will still be supplied by ComEd. The power generation will be supplied by another company if you do not opt out.
bill trudeau
8:03 am on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Take a ride out west along North avenue. To think that only Elmhurst was affected and Com Ed has enough people to handle this is a folly. The traffic lights are out as far as West Chicago, so I'm thinking it's gonna be awhile before everything's back to normal.
Doremus Jessup
8:34 am on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Not sure if anyone was saying that Elmhurst was the only town hit by outages. According to this official DuPage County website Elmhurst remains the hardest hit municipality in the county http://www.dupageco.org/protectdupage/
To write that aggregation has nothing to do with the restoration process in my opinion is a little naive, Com Ed allocates the resources to make the repairs and I have seen no repair crews in Elmhurst, our own City Hall has been with out power for days. I think our elected officials should call for an official investigation of Com Ed of any negligence to repair our electricity due to our decision to aggregate our electricity supplier. Also,yes other towns have aggregated but has any other town with power outages? If other towns with power losses have aggregated where do they find themselves on the power outage list? Seems that with all the hard work done by Elmhurst to remove the trees and all the work private owners have done with professional tree services that they could have power up and running at a faster clip here if Com Ed actually wanted to do that. Other people have said they have seen crews in Elmhurst, I believe them but I have not seen any.
Scr 390
4:18 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
This is the third year in a row where storms have ravaged our neighborhood, power lost for 3 or more days (last year was SIX DAYS) and temperatures in the 90s. You would think that after this happens enough times (year after year after year), the response time would be better.
Com Ed texted us saying power would be restored at 1am Tuesday - nothing. Then at 8am Tuesday - nothing. Now they say 10pm Tuesday. We'll see...
Kim J IL
9:32 am on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Com Ed is the worst service provider ever. While the rising cost of the raw power is certainly a concern, Com Ed's continued incompetency in regards to their ability to deliver the power purchased is shameful. Understand the issue is not the workers, but the managers of that organization. They simply don't know how to run the business they are paid to oversee and these continued outages is the proof. Now I suppose they have an excuse, but as a customer, I don't care!
We have had storms in the 70s, 80s and 90s with little power outages. However in the last five years we have had power outage after power outage. We will continue to have storms and bad weather. Accepting weather as an excuse of not being able to provide service should not be tolerated.
If the people in charge of the utility cannot run the utility then the assets should be seized by the government and sold to a competing utility company to run. The executives should be fired without benefits as they have taken jobs they cannot do. If there are shareholder losses due to the seizure of property, then let them go after the executives who caused the problem, for compensation of loss.
Why should some lazy fat ass executive be more comfortable then me, when I am paying his salary for services not being provided for in this heat.
Independence666
9:47 am on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Kim, obviously you are angry, and you have every right to be, but do you really think that our corrupt clueless government would do a better job? Really?
If the government was running this show, we would'nt have our power back on for weeks. Remember what happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. That was a perfect example of our government in action. Niether Republicans or Democrats are any good at providing services. They are only good at collecting taxes and wasting our money.
Tak_Bulgogi
10:13 am on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Kim J Il has fantasies of government expropriation, like in Venezuela or Russia.
You can blame bureaucracies, and laws-on-top-of-more laws as the reasons why these utilities have the agility of cruise ship.
I'm languishing over here on the northwest side without power, and I kick myself yet again for not buying a generator (I'm buying one today). Praises be to Allah, my neighbor two doors down has one.
You just have to learn to be patient. I recommend going to a hotel for a night or two.
In the meantime, I can't help but think that if we'd all bought Chevy Volts to help slow climate change, none of this would have happened! ;-)
Stay cool everybody,
Gochu
Doremus Jessup
10:23 am on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Hey Tak,
There are many municipalities across the United States that have municipal electric companies and are very happy with the service that is provided. I have been to some of these communities and I can't say I have been to North Korea but I have to guess they are nothing alike. Now that Com Ed has shown its level of commitment to Elmhurst maybe it is time to consider decentralized power generation and our own municipal electric company.
Alan Brinkmeier
12:44 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Elmhurst Public Works crews ( and probably hired on addional contractors) will be picking up limbs and brush for the next several weeks. Please remember to put all downed limbs and brush on your parkway for pickup. Don't be concerned if a truck comes down your street but skips your branches; they're assigned different sizes so a truck for large limbs will not pick up smallerstuff according to the guys on an Elmhurst Public Works crew I just spoke with early this morning.
Karen Chadra
12:55 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Thanks for the info, Alan
Kathleen Sullivan
5:32 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
If you want to use the texting service to text "OUT" then your cell phone number must be registered with ComEd and assigned to your account. This can be done very easily via the internet at ComEd.com. Just texting OUT if not associated with your account will not report your outage. Best of luck to everyone.