Dec 22 - The Daily Oklahoman

Public Service Company of Oklahoma said Friday it had restored power to all customers who can receive it safely in the wake of a devastating ice storm last week.

The announcement came a day after Oklahoma Gas and Electric said repairs to its system were complete.

However, several thousand Oklahoma homes and businesses remain without power due to damage to connections between the power grid and individual buildings. The utility companies say damage to that equipment is the responsibility of the property owner.

Aid deadline approaches Both Oklahoma City and Tulsa have established hot lines home owners can call to receive free repairs if they are unable to find an electrician.

In Oklahoma City, residents have until 7 p.m. today to register for the program at (800) 627-3464. In Tulsa, residents have until 7 p.m. Sunday to register at (866) 789-8898. In other communities, residents may contact their electric provider or city officials to find out whether their municipality is participating in the program.

A hot line established for residents to report uninsured damage will also close at 7 p.m. today, said Michelann Ooten, spokeswoman for the state Department of Emergency Management.

The agency has already received 8,500 reports of damage, Ooten said. After the hot line closes, residents can report damage at www.oem.gov.

About 3,500 powerless Gil Broyles, an OG&E spokesman, said in some cases electricians have been able to make repairs the same day damage is reported. Once repairs are made, the utility company should be able to restore power by the following day, Broyles said.

By Friday afternoon, emergency management officials reported about 3,500 homes and businesses remained without power. At the height of the Dec. 9 storm, more than 630,000 customers of various electric companies were without electricity.

OG&E reported about 2,300 outages remain in the Oklahoma City area, and most of those are probably due to damage on private property, which must be repaired before the utility company can restore service, Broyles said.

Customers who do not see any visible damage to their meter box or electric connections should call OG&E to see if power can be restored.

Crews brace for weekend The company sent home some out-of-state contractors who had been called in to assist in the recovery, but OG&E is prepared to keep employees working in the field over the weekend and during the holiday if necessary, Broyles said.

As the possibility of storms looms over the weekend, more scattered outages may occur, he said. Storms expected to bring snow and rain by this morning could also bring gusty winds, which could dislodge tree limbs that were weakened or broken in the previous ice storm, Broyles said.

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