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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Power Out in North Doylestown

Electric service is expected to be restored quickly, borough officials said.

Power went out to parts of north Doylestown on Tuesday around 7:30 a.m. PECO told Doylestown Borough officials that the power was lost due to a faulty aerial circuit in Buckingham Township, which feeds part of the Borough. The damage was caused by high winds, the company said. The company said power should be restored by about 10:30 a.m.

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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

UPDATE: Doylestown Borough Power Outage

The number of customers in Doylestown Borough without power was down to fewer than 200 by Sunday afternoon, borough officials said.

Latest message from Doylestown Borough regarding the power outage: "As a long and difficult week comes to a close, less than 200 of our neighbors remain without power. PECO crews are out in force today to address these remaining areas. A large PECO crew has restored power to East Ashland Street in the vicinity of Church Street and is removing a large tree from power lines on Church Street at Burpee Park. Another large crew is at work on South West Street near Magill Lane. Still another is nearby on Worthington Street. Smaller crews are at work on Green Street, Clemens Road and at scattered locations throughout the Borough. At this time only Worthington St, Church St (at Burpee Park), South West St (near Magill), and Creek Drive remain …

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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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Hurricane Sandy

State Roads Remain Closed in Bucks County

Most of the 40 state roads that still were closed on Thursday in the wake of Hurricane Sandy are in Central and Upper Bucks.

Transportation around Bucks County remained difficult Thursday, as 40 state roads still were closed in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. As of 9 a.m., 43 state roads remained closed in Bucks County, most of them in Central or Upper Bucks. That list, however, is constantly changing, said PennDOT spokesman Gene Blaum. By 1 p.m., four of those listed roads had been reopened, but one more had to be closed, taking the total closed to 40, Blaum said. The vast majority of roads had to be closed because of utility lines or poles down or trees that became entangled in utility lines, he said. And that lengthens the time it takes to get the road reopened. "Any utility involvement, and we can’t touch the trees. We have to wait for the utility to address …

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Hurricane Sandy

UPDATE: Route 202 Still Closed

A tree still is down across one of the busiest routes in Central Bucks, and most of New Britain still is out of power.

A huge tree still hung precariously over one of the busiest roads in Central Bucks on Wednesday, just another casualty of unprecedented storm damage. New Britain Borough still is awaiting the arrival of a PECO or PennDOT crew to tackle the tree down across Route 202 near Keeley Avenue, borough mayor David Holewinski said Wednesday. Hurricane Sandy brought the tree down earlier this week, and it has remained there since. "We’re trying to get somebody out to handle it, but they can’t give us any idea of when they might be out here," said Holewinski. The mayor said he has spoken with Ted Dorand, the municipality's PECO liaison, and gave him the location of all trees known to be down on roads or wires in New Britain. Dorand couldn't give him …

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