As the coronavirus pandemic escalated into a crisis in the United States nearly two weeks ago, utility giant FirstEnergy Corp. announced a policy to stop disconnecting service to the millions of homes it serves from Ohio to New York.

That pledge came with a big asterisk.

The company, one of the nations largest investor-owned utilities and valued at close to $18 billion, told HuffPost it is continuing to send out mailers warning of imminent service shutoffs for past-due bills, though it said it has no plans to act on them until the national crisis has subsided. But ratepayers whose electricity was cut off before the pandemic remain in the dark.

FirstEnergy said it would restore power to those homes, but was not waiving the fees required to do so which average $35 but could, under state law, be as high as $200.

In northeastern Ohio, the state where FirstEnergy is headquartered, activists say hundreds possibly more than 1,000 households are without electricity even as state officials order residents not to leave their homes.

It could potentially be in the hundreds, said Ashley Reddick, an organizer with Cleveland Owns, an anti-poverty nonprofit that advocates for increasing collective ownership.

FirstEnergy said it does not know how many customers remain without power.

At this time, to be completely honest with you, we dont have those numbers right now, Aaron Ruegg, a FirstEnergy spokesperson, said by phone Tuesday. We are working closely with our customer service group to try to gather those numbers so we can share them.