Tractor Trailer Wipes Out Utility Poles and Power in Warminster

Police said the driver of the trailer took out four utility poles on Newtown Road early Thursday evening.

Up to 1500 customers are without power following a traffic incident on Newtown Road Thursday evening, according to PECO estimates.  Warminster Police said a tractor trailor traveling north on Newtown Road wiped out four utility poles just before 5:30 p.m.  A woman driving on Newtown Road at the time of the incident was trapped inside of her SUV for a brief period, as live wires had fallen on the roof of her car. Police said she has safely exited the vehicle and did not require medical attention.  The portion of Newtown Road between Ann Lane and County Line Road is shut down as police investigate.  Check back with Patch for updates on this developing story. 

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PECO Warns of Debit Card Scam

Customers purchase pre-paid debit cards that are then drained by fraudsters, the company said.

A scam in which PECO customers are misled into purchasing pre-paid debit cards which are then drained of funds is targeting the Philadelphia region, the electric and gas utility said Thursday. In the scam, customers are contacted by persons who claim to work for PECO and informed that they must make an immediate payment in order to avoid their electricity being shut off. The phony employee then instructs the customer to purchase a pre-paid debit card from a convenience store or similar location, then to provide that card's number. The fraud operators then drain the funds on the card. “We want to make our customers aware of this scam so they can protect themselves from becoming victims of this and other fraudulent activities,” said Mark …

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Hurricane Sandy

UPDATE: About 14,000 in Bucks Still Without Power

All three of the county's electric suppliers still were working to restore electricity to all customers.

A week after Hurricane Sandy struck, about 14,000 Bucks County electric customers still were without power. As of Monday at 5:20 p.m., 2,228, Met Ed customers in northeast Bucks and 820 PPL customers in northwest Bucks were out of power. In Central and Lower Bucks, about 11,000 PECO customers still were without power as of Monday. In PECO's territory, service for most remaining customers is expected to be restored by midnight Monday. However, the company noted that some "customers in the most damaged and isolated areas may be without electric service until next week." Met Ed made progress in Bucks County in recent days by energizing the Ferndale Substation on Sunday evening and the Ottsville Substation on Monday, according to an update …

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Hurricane Sandy

Power Update: 87% Restored; 40,495 to Go

Utility companies predict that most or all of Bucks County will be restored to power by midnight Sunday.

On Saturday, local utility companies restored power to more than 50,000 customers, but they still have more than 40,000 to go. In a press release Saturday night, PECO reported that 30,000 customers remained without power in Bucks County. PPL had 5,621 and Met-Ed stated it had 4,874 customers still in the dark. Are you one of the last 40,000? How have you been coping? In Bucks County, Bristol, Lower Makefield, Upper Makefield, Solebury townships and New Hope were the hardest hit. PECO expects most of the remaining customers to have service restored by Sunday midnight.  “I want to thank our customers for their patience and understanding as we continue to focus on safely restoring service across the region,” said Craig Adams, PECO President …

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9:37 pm on Tuesday, November 13, 2012

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91,068 in Bucks County Remain Without Power

PECO reports it has restored power to more than 725,000 customers affected by Hurricane Sandy.

In the most recent PECO update, from Friday afternoon, PECO reports about 125,000 customers still without power: “This is the worst damage I have ever seen,” said Pat O’Neil, a 25-year PECO veteran supervisor who has been working 16 hour shifts to restore service since the beginning of the storm.  “Many of the areas we are working in had significant damage, including multiple downed trees and poles, downed wires, and damaged equipment.  In some of these areas, we need to completely rebuild the electric distribution system and supporting infrastructure to restore service to our customers.” PPL reports 10,834 customers without power from Hilltown up through the northwest Bucks County, with about 2,000 customers out in Montgomery County. Met …

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Nov. 2 Update: 90 Percent of PECO Customers On Line by Midnight

Township manager Rich Manfredi said that PECO representatives are working to get at least 90 percent of Warminster customers back on the grid by Friday night.

As of 3:15 Thursday afternoon, 60 percent of PECO customers in Warminster were still without power, Township Manager Rich Manfredi told the board of supervisors during its meeting last night. Manfredi expressed gratitude to the crews for working overtime to get residents back on line, but made it clear that there was still a lot of work to do. "They are working the best they can," said Manfredi, "but we are not out of the woods yet. I am not satisfied with 60 percent of our residents without electricity." According to Manfredi, PECO predicted during a conference call that 90 percent of customers in Warminster and Bucks County would have power by Friday night. "They are going with the full court press and bringing in 50 more bucket trucks…

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Nov. 1: Warminster Neighborhoods Still Without Power

Thousands of PECO customers in Warminster still wait for the lights to come back on.

Three days after Hurricane Sandy's devestation, generators continued humming around Warminster and Ivyland. Thousands in the Warminster and Ivyland neighborhoods have been without power since the storm wreaked havoc on the area. The Centennial School District has closed the schools since Oct. 29 and many area businesses remain dark while PECO crews work on restoring power. Kmart, PetSmart and the majority of stores in Center Point Place have not opened for business, as well as the township library. A statement from PECO posted on its website says, "Based on our assessment of the extent of damage, PECO expects to be able to restore service to approximately 80-90 percent of customers impacted by the storm by Friday night.  Service for most …

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Full Power Restoration Could Take up to a Week, PECO Says

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, PECO has said that it may take up to a week to restore power to the area.

It may take up to a week to fully restore power to the Bucks County area, according to PECO. More than 850,000 customers are without power, which makes Hurricane Sandy the most damaging storm in the company's history. Of the 850,000 affected customers, more than 8,000 are in Warminster. How Long Will Food Last in the Fridge if You Lose Power? As of Tuesday evening, two-thirds of Warminster Township customers did not have power, including the administration building and several schools in the Centennial School District. On Tuesday morning, Patch readers took to Facebook to report outages throughout the various sections of the community. PECO is asking customers to call 1-800-841-4141 to report a power outage.

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Transformer Fire Cuts Power to Apartment Buildings

Departments from surrounding communities covered the call for Warminster crews, who responded to another fire on the other side of town.

While Warminster fire crews responded to a house fire on the west side of the township, an underground transformer fire on the other side of town at the Jefferson on the Creek apartment complex drew engines from surrounding municipalities. The call went out at 7:14 p.m., with departments from Hatboro, Upper Southampton, Warrington and Willow Grove arriving on the scene. According to Warminster Fire Chief Mitch Shapiro, the blaze could not be extinguished until PECO cut the power to the transformer. After a service truck arrived at 7:30 p.m., the fire was smothered with dry chemicals and under control within ten minutes, Shapiro said. The fire burnt some bricks on the side of building 300, but none of the interior units were damaged and no …

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James Boyle

11:00 pm on Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Looks great, thanks for posting. I couldn't get there in time to see the actual flames. If anybody has pictures of those, please share.   more ›

PECO Warns of Utility Scam

President Obama is not providing funding to help pay your electric or gas bill.

A scam intended to deceive people into providing their social security numbers, banking details, and other personal information by misleading them to believe that the government will help pay their utility bills has appeared in the greater Philadelphia region, PECO said last week. The scam, which has been reportedly taking place through social media such as Facebook, text messages, telephone, and U.S. Mail, claims that United States President Barack Obama is providing funding to help customers pay their utility bills. “We want to make our customers aware of this scam and any potential issues so they can protect themselves from becoming victims of identity theft and other fraudulent activities,” said Mark Alden, PECO vice president of …

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