Charleston, W. Va., December 24, 2009 – Employees for Appalachian Power, as well as outside contractors and personnel from other AEP operating companies will continue to work on power restoration through Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the weekend. As of Thursday morning, nearly 166,000 customers have been restored since the storm started December 18. Approximately 54,000 remain without power.

While restoration has gone well and the numbers have steadily declined, employees will not stop working until everyone’s power is back on in the affected areas of Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

“All of our employees are very dedicated workers, and possess a certain skill set that not all of us have, especially our line personnel. They are well aware of the essential role they play in providing electricity to homes and businesses. And they rise to the occasion every time, even in these most challenging conditions and during a time when they would also rather be at home with their families,” said Dana Waldo, president and chief operating officer for Appalachian Power.   Many APCo employees have been working 12-16 hour days for the past week.

Most customers still without electricity should have service restored by Friday night. In areas with extensive damage (Boone, Logan and Mingo counties in West Virginia, and Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell, Scott and Wise counties in Virginia), the restoration effort will continue through the weekend. Additional crews will join the effort there as they complete restoration in less damaged areas.
 
If your power is out
If customers are still experiencing an outage when the rest of their neighborhood has been restored, they should report it again to ensure that information is properly recorded in the system. Customers can call Appalachian Power’s toll-free number (Tennessee: 1-800-967-4237, Virginia: 1-800-956-4237, West Virginia: 1-800-982-4237). If callers receive a recorded message, they should follow the automated instructions to leave a message and not hang up.

For those who have access to a computer and the Internet, outages can be reported at www.AppalachianPower.com. Reporting an outage this way only takes a few minutes and simply requires the customer’s phone number and verification of address to start the process.

The Web site also has regularly updated outage information and restoration information.
 
Other important information:
-To deter fraud or other criminal activities, Appalachian Power Security is urging residents to be conscientious regarding their personal safety. People should make sure their homes are secure if they will be temporarily living away from them, and ask for identification from power company personnel if someone requests to enter a residence.  Appalachian Power employees do not need to enter homes to restore service to them.

Another security concern is the recent increase in copper wire theft. Crews are discovering that people are stealing downed wire, which is not only dangerous but illegal.   Customers should contact the state police or contact the AEP security hotline number at 1-866-747-5845 if they see any unauthorized person entering an electric substation or facility, climbing a utility pole or have other suspicions of criminal activity.

-Customers in Southwest Virginia should watch Friday’s weather forecast closely and make emergency preparations in case new or prolonged outages occur. The forecast for Christmas Day is calling for light to moderate icing in Southwest Virginia, and gusty winds up to 50 miles per hour during the morning in the Bluefield, W. Va. and far Southwest Virginia areas.
           
Appalachian Power has almost 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power, one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, which delivers electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. 
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