NEWARK--The winter storm left several thousand in the dark Thursday, but the state's power companies said there were few widespread outages through the morning hours.

That could change as heavier winds are expected later in the day.

Public Service Electric & Gas Co. reported 3,852 customers lost service because of weather issues.

"While we have had some weather-related outages this morning, our system is operating pretty well right now," said spokeswoman Karen Johnson. "Our main concern with this storm is the possibility that the heavy snow will weigh down tree limbs and bring down power lines. The wet snow can also build up on the lines."

She said line crews were on the job and hope to get customers restored as quickly as possible.

John Latka, senior vice president of electric and gas operations for PSE&G, said the utility prepared in advance for the stom.

"We have additional personnel scheduled and on standby, with extra tree crews and equipment at the ready," he said.

Jersey Central Power & Light only had a scattering of outages.

"We activated our storm response plan, opened its emergency command center, activated the incident command System and have extra line, substation and forestry workers on stand-by alert," said spokesman Ron Morano.

Earlier in the morning, Atlantic City Electric Co., servicing the southern part of the state, reported about 1,800 customers in Cape May County out of service, but said it was not due to the weather.

"In the western portion of our territory we are starting to see a change over from rain to snow. In the eastern portion we are still seeing rain right now," said spokesman Frank Tedesco. "Winds are expected to pick this afternoon into the early evening so we may see sporadic outages due to the gusty winds expected later today."

Atlantic Electric has both its own crews as well as contractors on standby for service restoration work, if needed, he said.

To report downed wires or power outages and track outages live:

PSE&G: Call the utility's customer Service line at 1-800-436-PSEG. Click here to view the company's live outage map.

JCP&L: Call 1-888-LIGHTSS (1-888-544-4877) or click "Report Outage" link on www.jcp-l.com. In the event of downed wires, customers should immediately contact the utility or their local police or fire department. Click here to view JCP&L's live outage map.

Atlantic City Electric: Customers can report outages by calling 1-800-833-7476, visiting www.atlanticcityelectric.com or through the utility's mobile app, available for download here. Click here to view ACE's live power outage map.

Rockland Electric Co: The utility, which serves customers in northern Passaic and Bergen Counties, can be reached at 1-877-434-4100. To view Rockland Electric's live outage map, click here.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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