LIPA Ready to Respond to the Remnants of Hurricane Noel

Extra Repair Crews Called In. Call 1-800-490-0075 to Report Outages & Downed Power Lines

Uniondale, NY - An intense weather system packing high winds and wind gusts will move across Long Island this weekend especially the East End. As a result, the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) is anticipating the potential for electric outages across Long Island.

LIPA has been monitoring the storm system closely for several days and is prepared to respond with extra repair crews and Call Center personnel working extended shifts over night and through the weekend.

“We’ve been monitoring the progress of this storm and have been making pre-storm preparations,” said LIPA President and CEO Kevin S. Law. “We will have extra repair personnel as well as National Grid crews available to respond to any outages that may be caused by the high winds and winds gusts from this late season tropical storm system.”

Mr. Law noted that high winds can cause weakened trees and tree limbs to fall, bringing down power lines and causing outages. Storm-related vehicular accidents can also cause outages when cars and trucks skid off rain-slicked local roads and hit utility poles.

“Play it safe,” said Mr. Law. “Don’t go near any – let me underscore any – downed lines. You can never be sure if it’s a power line, phone line or cable TV line. But it could be energized by coming in contact with a power line.”

Mr. Law noted that a full compliment of electric service and tree trim crews are scheduled to work around the clock in multiple16-hour shifts starting Saturday morning and through the weekend to make repairs and restore service as quickly as possible. Additional Call Center representatives are also set to take wire down calls from emergency service personnel and customers.

LIPA’s automated 21st Century Automatic Phone Answering System will also be utilized to expedite the receipt of outage calls from customers. The 21st Century system, which can process about 100,000 calls per hour, automatically registers the location of an outage as soon as the customer’s call is recorded by the system.

Call LIPA at 1-800-490-0075 to report an outage or downed line.

LIPA encourages customers to prepare for the possibility of a power outage by taking the following actions now:

Have a battery-powered radio or TV available;
Have flashlights and extra batteries readily accessible for all family members;
Have a supply of canned food with a manual can opener available;
If you have an electric water pump, keep spare containers of water for cooking and washing;
Keep a non-electronic phone in your home – phone lines often remain operational even during power outages;
If you decide to use a standby generator, have it installed by a licensed electrician and never operate it inside your garage or home;
If an outage occurs, disconnect appliances and sensitive electronic equipment to prevent any possible damage that could be caused by momentary power spike that could occur when service is restored.

For additional storm preparedness information, on-line outage reports, links to weather sites and emergency response agencies, and LIPA’s real-time storm outage reports go to www.lipower.org.

LIPA, a non-profit municipal electric provider, owns the retail electric Transmission and Distribution System on Long Island and provides electric service to more than 1.1 million customers in Nassau and Suffolk counties and the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. LIPA is the 2nd largest municipal electric utility in the nation in terms of electric revenues, 3rd largest in terms of customers served and the 7th largest in terms of electricity delivered. In 2008, LIPA outperformed all other overhead electric utilities in New York State for frequency of service interruptions, and ranked second for duration of service interruptions. LIPA does not provide natural gas service or own any on-island generating assets. More information about LIPA can be found online at: http://www.lipower.org.

Media Contact Information
Vanessa Baird-Streeter
Phone - (516) 719-9230
Cell - (516) 640-0168
Media Pager - (516) 229-7248
media.relations@lipower.org

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