Oct. 6--Texas hopes to have electrical power restored to two- thirds of its customers as day breaks today and utility crews surge into more areas with severe hurricane damage.

In a briefing on progress Wednesday, Entergy Texas President and Chief Executive Joe Domino said repair crews had reconnected more than 27,000 customers, making the grand total as of Wednesday morning 179,000.

Crews restored power to 8,000 more Wednesday, leaving just under 100,000 customers still without power, he said.

The utility has 7,600 repair crew and support personnel at work all over Southeast Texas.

Because the repair job is so immense, Entergy Texas brought in 5,200 line-repair crew members from utilities nationwide.

The utility also recruited 3,200 tree trimmers in the wake of Hurricane Rita, which thumped trees onto houses and power lines.

Entergy Texas also has 400 line-repair personnel from its own service area, plus about 200 each from its sister companies elsewhere in the Entergy system, which includes utilities in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Domino called Rita the second most devastating storm in utility history, after Hurricane Katrina. Rita likely will cost the utility between $400 million and $500 million in Texas and southwestern Louisiana; in Texas alone, the repair bill is expected to reach between $230 million and $315 million.

Hurricane Katrina's impact is estimated at about $1.1 billion and caused Entergy New Orleans to file for bankruptcy protection as it struggles to replace revenue from a much smaller customer base.

"Reduced revenues will strain the company, but there is sufficient liquidity," Domino said of Entergy Texas' financial condition.

Domino also said no customer would be cut off from service simply because he or she is late with a payment.

"We will work with customers on payment options," he said. "There will be no cutoffs because of extenuating circumstances."

At the peak of damage, Rita sapped power from 287,000 customers. As is the case with a major storm, the damage is widespread and some areas are difficult to repair.

"No geographic area is being overlooked," Domino said.

In his progress report, Domino said customers on the Bolivar Peninsula should have been restored by late Wednesday. CenterPoint Energy, based in Houston, is handling those efforts.

The Port Arthur waterworks should have power soon, Domino said.

Each of the four motor-fuels refineries in Southeast Texas is receiving a single transmission feed -- enough for the plants to make complete damage assessments. The refineries generally take multiple feeds.

The Pinewood and Northwest Forest areas along Texas 105 were hard hit because of the many trees there, Domino said. Restoration of power in those areas could take more time than typical city neighborhoods.

A unit of the Sabine power station in Bridge City is operating and a second unit could be coming on-line soon. Other units suffered some storm damage.

As Entergy continues its restoration efforts, lessons from Rita already are apparent and will be useful in updating the utility's Texas storm manual.

The 2005 manual is more six inches thick and weighs a hefty 10 pounds or so.

Domino said a major lesson taught by both Katrina and Rita is in logistics -- how to feed, shelter and care for a veritable army of repair workers.

"In Katrina, we went to a site to set up tents, and we found military helicopters there," Domino said.

"Some sites here, we had arrangements. But because of the size (of the storm response), other emergency services took it.

"The lesson is: be flexible."