Utilities Push Ahead With Restoring Power in New York Area After Storm Utility companies continued to make progress on Sunday in restoring electrical service in New York and New Jersey, but more than 125,000 customers still remained without power almost two weeks after Hurricane Sandy hit the region. With another day of nice weather, workers expected more customers to be brought back online by Sunday night, but Long Island remained a sticking point. And while gas rationing remained in effect, lines appeared to be shorter in many areas of New York City. Some routes on the Long Island Rail Road and PATH rail service were also expected to resume on Monday. By Sunday night, Consolidated Edison had restored power to all but 2,500 customers in New York City and fewer than 1,300 customers in Westchester County. Those figures did not include about 22,000 homes that were badly damaged in the storm, the company said. About 110,000 customers on Long Island and in the Rockaway Peninsula were still without power on Sunday, according to the Long Island Power Authority. About 31,000 of those customers were in the peninsula, and the others were in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. On Sunday, the power authority said its 15,000 utility workers had restored power to 38,000 customers in the past 24 hours. The power authority said on Sunday that it had brought power back to about 95 percent of the homes and businesses that were safe to receive electricity. It expected to have 99 percent of customers who were able to receive power back online by Tuesday. "Please know that we are working hard to restore your power every day and won't rest until everyone's lights are on, and our communities and families are back to normal," the company said in a statement on its Web site. For some, this promise was not enough. About 150 people protested the slow response outside the Long Island Power Authority's office on Saturday. And at least 1,700 people have signed an online petition urging officials to "Investigate and Hold LIPA (Long Island Power Authority) Accountable." One supporter of the petition, Eric Cline, a resident of Westbury, said his family had been without power since the storm hit. "My brothers and sisters bundle up every night because they're freezing, and not one thing has been done in the area," he wrote on the petition. About 17,000 customers remained without power in New Jersey. Jersey Central Power and Light said it had restored service to about 99 percent of customers affected by the storm, with the remaining 14,000 customers expected to have power by Sunday night. The other utility in New Jersey, Public Service Electric and Gas, reported similar progress, saying it expected about 3,000 customers without power to have service by the end of the day. "We have seen a good amount of progress in the last 24 hours," said Rena Esposito, a spokeswoman for Public Service Electric and Gas. We are in the home stretch. Our crews are sticking with the restoration with gusto. On Sunday, the police also confirmed another storm-related death in New York City, bringing the total number to 43. Albert McSwain, 77, died on Saturday at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center of injuries he suffered when he fell down the stairs of his dark apartment building on Rockaway Beach Boulevard in Queens during the storm. Mr. McSwain had been a custodian at the New York City Police Academy for more than two decades before retiring in 1991. There were 23 storm-related deaths on Staten Island. There were also 11 deaths in Queens, 7 in Brooklyn and 2 in Manhattan. There was some good news for commuters on Sunday. The L.I.R.R. will being operating on Monday on a weekday schedule on 10 of its 11 branches, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced. The new schedule represents about 70 percent of the L.I.R.R."s regular rush-hour capacity, officials said. PATH service to Manhattan will also resume on Monday at 5 a.m. at the Newark Penn and Harrison stations in New Jersey, officials said. Trains will run in both directions until 10 p.m. PATH service, however, will remain suspended at the Hoboken, Exchange Place and World Trade Center stations. The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel will also reopen for limited bus service during rush hours, officials said. Express buses from Brooklyn and Staten Island will be able to use one lane during rush hour, but the tunnel - which flooded during the hurricane, causing extensive damage - will be closed at other times. Over the weekend, gas lines appeared to ease in New York and New Jersey. On Sunday morning in Manhattan, all the pumps at a BP station at Houston and Crosby Streets were serving taxis. About five cars were waiting in line. In Brooklyn, there was a line at a Hess station at Fourth Avenue and Union Street. About 60 cars stretched for several blocks down Union. At another Hess station at Fourth Avenue and 30th Street, there were about 30 cars in a line stretching three blocks. Manuel Ferrar, an employee at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was second in line at the 30th Street station in his gold Chrysler Caravan. The waits have dropped substantially since the days after the storm, he said. At times, he had to wait two to three hours. "Here, I've only been in line for 15 minutes," he said. It seems to be getting a lot better. On Staten Island, about half of the stations had gas, while the other half remained closed. On the northern side of the island, there were no lines. At some stations on the southern side, about 15 cars were in line. Gas lines in New Jersey appeared to have improved, as well. Sal Risalvato, the executive director of the New Jersey Gasoline, Convenience Store and Automotive Association, said the gas-rationing policy had helped. "The gas lines have greatly diminished," he said on Sunday morning. As for Monday, he said: "I think it's going to be fine. I don't think we're going to see any problems tomorrow.