Georgia Power crews are working to restore electricity to the 235,000 customers who lost power during the winter storm that swept through Georgia this weekend.

The company’s Storm Center which opened Friday continues to monitor the storm and direct placement of crews to restore outages.

In addition to the 3,500 Georgia Power employees working to restore power, the company is also receiving assistance from 2,200 workers from Southern Company subsidiaries Alabama Power, Mississippi Power, Savannah Electric and Gulf Power, independent contractors, as well as utilities from Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma and the Carolinas.

Georgia Power began with only 250 customers without power statewide Saturday morning. By late Saturday evening, that number had grown to 178,000 statewide. Ice began to stick to trees and limbs and they began falling onto power lines causing most of the outages. Even as linemen worked all day Saturday to restore power to thousands of customers, more customers lost power as the winter weather passed through the state.

As of 4:00 am Sunday morning, Georgia Power had approximately 235,000 customers without power across the state, 170,000 in the metro Atlanta area and 65,000 else where in the state including hard-hit areas near Columbus, Macon and Athens.

Georgia Power hopes to make significant progress in restoring power on Sunday and the goal is to get the majority of customers back on by Monday night.

“We appreciate our customers’ patience as we work to restore service as quickly and safely as possible,” said Mike Garrett, Georgia Power President and CEO.

During a major power outage, Georgia Power’s first priority is to restore electricity to emergency public service agencies, such as police and fire departments, and hospitals. The next priority is to restore power safely to as many customers as possible with each repair.

Here are some safety tips for customers to follow when severe weather hits:

- Residents who have a life-threatening medical emergency should call 911.

- Always avoid downed power lines. Any downed line should be considered energized and therefore dangerous. Report downed lines immediately to local public safety authorities and stay out of the immediate area.

- Avoid debris laying on the ground that may conceal downed power lines and make sure there are no downed lines before allowing children out to play.

- Steer clear of Georgia Power crew work areas. Equipment and energized lines may be in the area that could create a safety hazard.

- When driving, watch for crews working along the roadways, and obey all traffic signs and directions around work areas.

- When leaving your home and power is off, turn off the main breaker as a precaution to avoid a power surge once the power is restored.

- Don’t attempt to make repairs to Georgia Power’s electrical system or pull limbs off lines.

- Be patient. When major outages occurs, Georgia Power crews must first restore power to transmission lines and distribution circuits before working on distribution lines that feed directly to homes and businesses. However, be assured that Georgia Power crews are working as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to customers.

- Customers are reminded to be careful when using portable heaters or other supplemental heating. Never place heaters near flammable materials or where they might tip over. Use fire screens to prevent sparks and embers from causing problems.

- Customers should exercise extreme caution if using candles during a power outage. Always keep candles away from flammable objects and never leave them burning unattended.

If the weather interrupts electrical service, customers are urged to call the Customer Care Center at 1-888-891-0938. This line is answered by an automated system designed to handle power outage calls; however, customers may also talk directly with a customer service representative. The most efficient way for customers to report outages is to leave all information on this system.

In response to customer requests Georgia Power now provides an online power outage reporting system. Customers may report outages at www.georgiapower.com.

**Note to media: This service is convenient for customers to report outages using battery-powered laptops or computers at work.