Wildwood businesses hope to bounce back as electric company continues to repair energy grid

NORTH WILDWOOD, New Jersey (WPVI) -- Beach Bowls in North Wildwood is thrilled to be back in business and serving up smoothies and acaí bowls.

"It was a quiet week down here, especially in July," said Jennifer Capobianco who owns Beach Bowls. "I've never seen it like this before."

Capobianco said many visitors left the island after a fire broke out at Atlantic City Electric's Lake Avenue substation on Friday.

The company said about 24,000 people were left in the dark.

Capobianco said they didn't have power on Friday and Saturday and lost thousands of dollars worth of fresh food.

SEE ALSO: Service fully restored in Wildwood after substation fire knocked out power for days

Atlantic City Electric said more than 24,000 customers were initially impacted but as of 4:24 a.m. Sunday morning, the power has been fully restored.

"Sales have been bad," said Capobianco. "I looked at our computer this week and we're down about 40-50% Monday through Thursday."

Business owners on the boardwalk are feeling the pinch in their pockets too.

"Probably millions because the piers alone were shut down," said Wildwood Mayor Pete Byron. "People that come to Wildwood support the whole Cape May County, so it isn't just the money that is lost in Wildwood."

But Byron said Atlantic City Electric is being proactive to prevent this in the future.

"The crews are working really hard," said Sunit Mitra, who is Pepco Holdings's substation engineering senior manager. "We're in 90-degree weather most of this week. We had 24/7 around-the-clock coverage here."

Mitra said the crews are repairing the substation and upgrading the local energy grid.

He warns customers may experience a brief power outage during the process, and he doesn't know when it will be complete.

But the community agrees, they'll get through this tough time together.

"Throughout the restoration effort, the community has been very supportive to us," said Mitra. "They have been coming up to us, offering food. Our goal here is safe, reliable electricity for everyone, and we're going to do everything we can to get that back on track."

"This island is great," said Capobianco. "Everybody comes together like I said. If you would have seen it down here during the outage, neighbors helping neighbors."

Capobianco hopes popular events like the BBQ Fest, Beach Blast and Christmas in July will bring more people and business to the area.

Atlantic City Electric is still investigating the cause of the fire but doesn't believe it's a result of foul play.

They're also prepared for the potential storm on Sunday with crews and generators on standby.