Pepco keeps out-of-state power crews - DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

Pepco, the utility company which took eight-and-half days to reconnect all its customers from a sudden thunderstorm on June 29th, has asked 625 out-of-state linesmen to stay around for at least an extra day. That's because new thunderstorms are rolling through its service territory.

Pepco spokeswoman Myra Oppel said another 614 Pepco workers would be on duty Sunday, and 380 contract crew members would also be on hand.

Scores of utility and tree-trimming trucks were being staged at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Gaithersburg in anticipation of the new storms. Bundles of new utility poles and new transformers were also on hand.

Pepco says the last of its customers who were without power from June 29th had service restored by Sunday morning. Lynn Gummo, of Darnestown, Md., was one of them.

Gummo spent most of the eight-and-a-half day period staying with friends, but she tried moving back into her darkened home in Darnestown on Saturday, but, said Gummo, "The house was 93 degrees." She and her daughter spent Saturday night in a local hotel. On Sunday, they discovered that electricity had finally been restored.

"I appreciate the fact," mused Gummo, "that this storm [was] unexpected. But [Pepco's] response time and lack of communication... has just been inexcusable." Lynn Gummo estimates she loses electric service, on the average, once every summer and once every winter. She has lived in Darnestown for 12 years.

Pepco, in a lengthy statement, points out the sudden storm knocked out power to 443,000 customers and broke more utility poles and transformers than Hurricanes Isabel or Irene. Pepco also points out that 800 out-of-state crew members were ultimately added to its own workforce and local contractors, putting 2,000 field personnel on the job.