FACTBOX-Irene power outages leave 5 million in the dark

Aug 28 (Reuters) - More than 5 million homes and businesses along the U.S.
East Coast faced a night without electricity on Sunday as Tropical Storm Irene,
downgraded from a hurricane, continued to wreak havoc on power grids in its
path, according to reports from power companies.
    New York City avoided the extensive damage and power loss that had been
feared. For more see [ID:nN1E77R00E].
    A count of the utilities that have at least 50,000 customers without power
shows that some 5.1 million customers along the U.S. East Coast from North
Carolina to Maine were without power Sunday night. That does not include
smaller utilities or public and private companies not greatly affected.
    For instance, nearly 50,000 customers from several utility companies were
without power in Vermont
    As skies cleared and high wind retreated, some utilities along the eastern
seaboard began sending workers to assess damage. Utilities normally spend the
first hours after a storm looking at overall system damage so proper equipment
and workers can be dispatched when restoration work begins in earnest.
    "With the passing of the storm, the damage assessment has begun," John
Bruckner, president for National Grid's Long Island transmission and
distribution services, told reporters.
    Utility line crews and tree trimmers will converge on storm-damaged areas.
Many customers will have power restored in the first 24 to 48 hours, but full
restoration is likely to take weeks, utility officials warned, due to
flooding.
    Irene also left thousands of other coastal residents served by electric
cooperatives and other public power agencies without service.
    The level of outages caused by Irene surpasses Hurricane Wilma's 2005
record when 3.2 million customers lost power as Wilma ripped across the Florida
peninsula.
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AREA            POWER COMPANY                 CURRENT OUTAGES          PEAK
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CONNECTICUT     CONNECTICUT LIGHT & POWER        658,897                  
VIRGINIA        DOMINION RESOURCES D.N         650,000           1,200,000
BALTIMORE       BGE (Constellation) CEG.N      424,285                  
LONG ISLAND     LONG ISLAND POWER (LIPA)         419,538                  
MASSACHUSETTS   NATIONAL GRID                    386,962                  
NEW JERSEY      PSEG PEG.N                     375,000                  
NEW JERSEY      JERSEY CENTRAL P&L FE.N        373,000                  
RHODE ISLAND    NATIONAL GRID                    313,151                  
PENNSYLVANIA    PECO EXC.N                     297,000                  
MAINE           CENTRAL MAINE POWER              181,516             230,000
N CAROLINA      PROGRESS ENERGY PGN.N          150,835             440,000
NEW YORK        NYSEG                            129,000                  
DC/MD/VA        PEPCO POWER (Pepco) POM.N      127,730                  
NEW YORK        CON ED  ED.N                   122,171                  
NEW YORK        NATIONAL GRID                    122,169                  
PENNSYLVANIA    MET-ED FE.N                    120,000                  
NEW JERSEY      ATLANTIC CITY (Pepco) POM.N    114,355                  
N CAROLINA      DOMINION RESOURCES D.N          65,000                  
MARYLAND        DELMARVA POWER (Pepco) POM.N    57,501                  
TOTAL                                          5,088,110                  
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 (Reporting by Eileen O'Grady, Bernie Woodall, Selam Gebrekidan, David
Sheppard, Jeanine Prezioso, Joshua Schneyer; Editing by Marguerita Choy, Braden
Reddall and Dale Hudson)