Post-Sandy outages at 166,499 in 3 states: Energy Department

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy on Sunday said there were 166,499 customers without power in New York, New Jersey and West Virginia following Hurricane Sandy and the recent Nor'easter storm.

The number of outages was down by 122,740 from Saturday's tally of 289,239 in the three states.

The combined total of customer outages from Sandy and the Nor'easter peaked at more than 8.6 million in several East Coast states after the hurricane came ashore on the New Jersey coast on October 29.

The majority of the remaining outages were in New York, with more than 132,000 customers out, most of those served by the state's Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), the DOE report said.

LIPA has come under growing criticism from residents and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as outages stretched into nearly a third week.

LIPA on Saturday said 55,000 customers on Long Island and in the Rockaways, in the New York City borough of Queens, could be powered, but damage to homes was too severe and repairs or an inspection needed to be completed before the houses could reconnect to the grid.

The bulk of outages on Long Island remained in Island Park, Oceanside and the East Rockaway area, with smaller pockets in other south shore communities.

In New York City, Consolidated Edison said it was on track to restore power by the end of the weekend to virtually all customers who can accept service.

There were still about 30,000 customers in flood-ravaged areas of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island who cannot get service until their own internal equipment is repaired, tested and certified by an electrician as ready for service.

(Reporting by Eileen Houlihan; Editing by Maureen Bavdek and Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/post-sandy-outages-166-499-three-eastern-states-154411141.html

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