Crews Continue To Restore Power Across Mass.

The number of Massachusetts residents still in the dark after Monday's storm continues to drop and state officials are crediting utilities with an improved response compared with that after two major storms last year.

About 7,000 customers were without power as of 5 p.m. Thursday, down from approximately 400,000 at the height of the storm. (Outage maps: NStar, National Grid)

National Grid had restored 73 percent of its customers within about 36 hours of peak outages from Sandy, compared with 57 percent after Tropical Storm Irene and 45 percent after the surprise October snowstorm.

NStar had 82 percent of customers back within a day and a half of Sandy's peak, compared with 66 percent after Irene and 71 percent after the October snowstorm.