Georgia Power has notified crews throughout the state to be prepared for storm restoration duty as the company continues to keep a close eye on a developing winter storm that is expected to cause power outages in North Georgia Wednesday morning.

About 1,500 line crew personnel, damage assessment teams and other support personnel have been placed on standby.

Although the Georgia Power Storm Center at the company`s corporate headquarters is not presently activated, the company is closely monitoring the path of the approaching storm. The center will be activated once it appears outages are imminent.

Georgia Power is anticipating winter precipitation will hit the northern portion of the state from Atlanta northward. Crews from South Georgia will travel to North and East Georgia early Wednesday to respond to outages as needed. These crews will be directed to the damaged areas as they are identified.

If the weather interrupts electrical service, customers are urged to call the Customer Care Center at 1-888-891-0938. In addition to customer service representatives, this line is answered by an automated system designed to handle power outage calls. Customers should leave their information on this system.

During the ice storm of January 2000, Georgia Power customers requested the utility provide an online power outage reporting system. Now customers may report outages at www.georgiapower.com.*

Georgia Power urges its customers to be safe by avoiding downed power lines. Any downed line should be considered energized and therefore dangerous. Report downed lines immediately to local public safety authorities.

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

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

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