POWER OUTAGE UPDATE from First Energy

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) utilities have restored power to more than 97% of the 466,000 customers impacted by power outages in Ohio and Pennsylvania following last week’s storms.

As of this morning, approximately 12,000 customers remain without service, particularly in the hardest hit areas in eastern Cuyahoga County, western Lake County, central Geauga County and central Portage County in Ohio. FirstEnergy employees, contractors and outside resources will continue working around the clock until power has been restored for all customers.

At this stage in the restoration effort, utility crews are addressing many localized issues and restoring service to individual customers. This will require workers to travel to hundreds of individual locations to restore power to single homes or businesses. This is the most time consuming, labor intensive and complex part of service restoration.

Estimated restoration times have been updated for each electric company as follows:

The Illuminating Company: Approximately 9,000 remain without power. Service is expected to be restored to the majority of customers as follows:
11 p.m. today – Cleveland, Brooklyn and Strongsville areas
11 p.m. tomorrow – Middlefield area
4 p.m. Wednesday, August 30 – Mayfield, Solon, Concord, Bainbridge areas
All other area outages are assigned individual estimated restoration times as the outage orders are assigned to crews.

Ohio Edison: Approximately 1,800 remain without power. Service is expected to be restored to the majority of customers as follows:
1 p.m. today – Columbiana area in Mahoning Valley
11 p.m. today – Kent, Portage County area
All other area outages are assigned individual estimated restoration times as the outage orders are assigned to crews.

For updated information on power outages, FirstEnergy’s storm restoration process and tips for staying safe, visit the 24/7 Power Center at www.firstenergycorp.com/outages. Customers who are without power can call 1-888-LIGHTSS (1-888-544-4877) or text OUT to 544487 to report their outage or click the "Report Outage" link on www.firstenergycorp.com.