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Powerful Winds Cause 22,000 Customer Outages Across Con Edison Area

  • Con Edison Media Relations

  • New York – December 25, 2020 -- 04:00 AM

The heavy rain and windstorm crossing the New York region has caused more than 22,000 Con Edison customers to lose electric service. The company has restored service to more than 6,000 of those customers. The company anticipates that outage numbers will increase as the storm continues.

The company reports about 9,000 customers out of service in Westchester County. In Staten Island, about 3,500 customers are without power. In the Bronx, about 2,100 are without service and in Queens 1,100. In Brooklyn, about 500 are out of service.

Mount Vernon, Yonkers, Cortlandt and Rye are among the hardest-hit communities in Westchester. On Staten Island, the storm is causing its greatest damage in northern areas of the borough.

The powerful, gusting winds are causing trees and branches to fall onto overhead delivery equipment, resulting in customer outages.

The company urges members of the public to stay away from downed power lines. Those lines could be live. For your safety, we may be guarding downed wires until crews make repairs. Our personnel may be in unmarked cars, but will always have identification.

The company has secured more than 700 contractor workers to supplement its crews in rebuilding large sections of the electric-delivery system.

It is the largest number of outside workers the company has gotten in advance of a severe storm. Con Edison has also called a number of employees back from vacation due to the storm and outages.

How to Report an Outage

Con Edison sent text messages to customers in the regions expected to be hit the hardest. The messages remind customers to be prepared and to report an outage by simply replying OUT to the text.

Customers can sign up for text alerts at coned.com/text. Customers can also report outages and check service restoration status at conEd.com/reportoutage, or with Con Edison’s mobile app for iOS or Android devices, or by calling 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633).

Customers who report outages will receive updates from Con Edison with their estimated restoration times as they become available. Information on outages and restoration times is also available at the Con Edison outage map.

The Restoration Process

Crews give priority to restoring service lines that will provide power to the most customers as quickly as possible, then move on to restore smaller groups and individual customers who are without power.

Con Edison personnel continue to practice protocols to keep everyone safe from the coronavirus. Con Edison is following the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Safety

Con Edison offers the following storm tips to help customers stay safe and weather the possible effects of a storm:

  • Do not go near downed electrical wires. Treat downed wires as if they are live. Never attempt to move them or touch them with any object. Be mindful that downed wires can be hidden from view by snow, tree limbs, leaves or water.
  • Report all downed wires to Con Edison and your local police department immediately. If a power line falls on your car while you’re in it, stay inside the vehicle and wait for emergency personnel.
  • Members of the public should also avoid transformers that are brought to the ground. The transformers are gray metal drums attached to the wires and poles.
  • If your power goes out, disconnect or turn off appliances that would otherwise turn on automatically when service is restored. If several appliances start up at once, the electric circuits may overload.
  • Charge your cellphones and other devices while you have power.
  • Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for installing and using a portable generator. Never plug a generator into a wall unit, use it indoors or set it up outdoors near open home windows or air-handling vents.
  • Make sure your flashlights, radios and televisions are working. Have a supply of extra batteries. Weather updates and news on restorations of electrical service can be heard on most local radio and television stations.
  • For more storm tips and preparation, go to www.conEd.com

Customers can follow Con Edison on Twitter or like us on Facebook for general outage updates, safety tips and storm preparation information.

In addition, the company is in close contact with New York City Emergency Management and the Westchester County Department of Emergency Services to coordinate storm-response if needed.

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