ComEd has restored power to approximately 204,700 customers throughout the communities it serves, or more than 88 percent of customers affected by severe ice storms that moved through northern Illinois Wednesday and Thursday. Icy conditions followed by high winds damaged trees and equipment, causing power outages for approximately 231,000 customers.
Nearly 2,200 ComEd and contractor crew members have been working around the clock to restore power to customers. This includes 900 additional crew members from utilities from across the region who arrived Thursday to support ComEd’s safe and swift recovery efforts.
“We recognize any outage is frustrating to our customers and we thank them for their patience as crews work in challenging conditions to restore service as quickly as we can,” said Terence R. Donnelly, president and COO of ComEd. “This storm left significant damage to counties west of Chicago and along the Illinois-Wisconsin border. As we continue to restore power to customers in the hardest-hit communities, the safety of our customers and our crews remains our top priority.”
The combination of widespread ice and high winds has led to a multi-day recovery effort to restore all the customers affected by this storm. Layers of ice on trees, roads and equipment create additional hazards for utility crews leading to additional outages and longer restoration times well after the storm has passed. While a majority of impacted customers have been restored, a small number of customer outages in pockets with the most significant damage may last until late Saturday night, Feb. 25. As of 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, approximately 26,000 customers remain without service.
ComEd has been investing in power grid upgrades and tree trimming to minimize the impact of storms. Since smart grid upgrades began in 2011, ComEd has avoided more than 19 million power outages – saving more than $3.3 billion in outage-related costs – and improved overall reliability by more than 80 percent. In 2022, ComEd delivered its best reliability ever and was recognized with the ReliabilityOne Award for having the most resilient power grid in the U.S.
ComEd prioritizes attention on repairs that will bring back the greatest number of customers, and focuses on critical services, such as law enforcement, fire departments, hospitals and senior centers. Crews then move to restoration of individual outages.
The following tips and information encourage customers to stay safe following severe weather:
- If you encounter a downed power line, immediately call ComEd at 1-800-EDISON-1 (1-800-334-7661).
- Spanish-speaking customers should call 1-800-95-LUCES (1-800-955-8237).
- Never approach a downed power line. Always assume a power line is energized and extremely dangerous.
- Check on elderly and other family members and neighbors to ensure their safety and make alternate arrangements in the event of an outage.
Customers can sign up for Outage Alerts at ComEd.com/Alerts or text OUT to 26633 to report their outage and receive restoration information about when their power may be restored.
ComEd also offers a mobile app for iPhone® and Android™® smart phones that gives customers the ability to report power outages and manage their accounts. In addition, customers can report outages through ComEd’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
ComEd is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (EXC), a Fortune 200 energy company with approximately 10 million electricity and natural gas customers – the largest number of customers in the U.S. ComEd powers the lives of more than 4 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population.
