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ComEd: Power Back For 99% Of Customers

UPDATED 02/03/11 3:55 p.m.

CHICAGO (CBS) - ComEd said Thursday afternoon that it has restored power to virtually all of the customers who lost power during the blizzard on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Crews were able to restore power to 90 percent of affected customers within the first 24, hours, ComEd said in a release.

Just one percent of customers -- fewer than 2,000 customers -- remained without power as of Thursday afternoon and those customers should have power back by Thursday evening, according to ComEd.

"We are extremely proud of our dedicated crews who worked vigorously in the last three days to safely restore service to our customers," ComEd president Anne Pramaggiore said in a statement Thursday afternoon. "Our crews were out repairing high-voltage electric lines and downed wires enduring the blistering snow, wind storm and frigid temperatures."

Restoration efforts for the last few customers take longer because these outages typically affect a small number of homes or businesses, or require repairs in difficult to access areas, the release said.

Since the start of Tuesday's storm, ComEd crews have replaced 22,000 feet of cable, which is the equivalent to 73 football fields.

(The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.)

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