More than 3,000 Needham residents remained without power as of 8:00 a.m. this morning following the early winter storm that blew through the area Saturday evening.

The 3,024 customers represent just under 25 percent of NSTAR's total customers in town, according to information provided by the company. Officials did not have an estimate for when all power would be restored.

"Heavy wet snow and high winds continue to take down wires and tree limbs, which is particularly challenging this time of year when the branches are still full of leaves," NSTAR officials noted in an article posted on the company Web site. "NSTAR has activated our Emergency Response Plan—opening regional service centers as storm response headquarters, adding extra line crews and support staff in our service centers, and adding additional staffing to our customer call center."

According to the Web site, NSTAR has restored power to more than 70,000 customers, with 114,000 customers still without power.

"Most of the outages are concentrated in our Western service territory around the communities of Framingham, Waltham and Walpole, and in the south on Cape Cod," according to the site. "While many of our customers will have power restored within the next 24 hours; due to the difficult driving conditions, downed trees and severe damage experienced on our system; we’re anticipating our power restoration effort will last into the work week."

In the mean time, NSTAR officials are encouraging residents to report power outages using the online form or by calling 800-592-2000.