PECO Completes Nearly 200 Electric System Projects to Enhance Service for Customers

From July through September, nearly 200 advanced projects were completed to enhance electric reliability for customers. Each year, PECO invests more than $500 million to continue to bolster the electric system infrastructure, including performing preventive maintenance and upgrading equipment.

Despite a severe summer storm at the end of the first half of the year, electric service reliability has improved by nearly 19 percent through the third quarter of the year compared to 2014. Specifically:

• Customers experienced 225,000 fewer outages and when an outage did occur, service was restored for customers approximately 12 minutes faster.
• The third quarter of 2015 (July through September) also was PECO’s best-ever third quarter in terms of electric service reliability, with 2,000 fewer outages than the previous record-breaking third quarter.

“Every day, we work hard to provide safe, reliable, affordable and clean energy services to our customers,” said John McDonald, vice president of Technical Services. “These projects are critical to maintaining our electric system to deliver the level of service our customers expect.”

As part of this ongoing work, PECO also upgraded and installed new equipment throughout the region, including 33 new advanced aerial reclosers. When a problem occurs, like a fallen tree limb, lightning strike or vehicle accident, the recloser stops the flow of electricity on the line and then automatically restores electricity if possible. There are currently more than 1,600 reclosers on PECO’s system, and these devices prevented more than 465,000 sustained power interruptions for PECO customers through September 30, 2015.

To help prevent power outages caused by vegetation, the company installs reinforced tree-resistant aerial electric lines. These lines are stronger than traditional lines and can better withstand falling trees and tree limbs. Approximately 10,000 feet of this type of wire has been installed in 2015 with more than 18 miles installed across the service territory. Rigorous tree trimming also limits the number of power outages caused by trees and other vegetation. In 2015, the company is investing about $36 million on tree trimming and other vegetation removal around approximately 2,800 miles of aerial power lines along the electric distribution and transmission systems.

Based in Philadelphia, PECO is an electric and natural gas utility subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC). The company’s 2,400 dedicated employees provide advanced, innovative energy solutions to 1.6 million electric and more than 506,000 natural gas customers in southeastern Pennsylvania. In 2014 PECO delivered 89.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 37.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and had an estimated economic impact of $4.5 billion in Pennsylvania, supporting more than 9,600 local jobs and producing $760 million in labor income. Founded in 1881, PECO is one of the Greater Philadelphia Region's most active corporate citizens, providing leadership, volunteer and financial support to numerous arts and culture, education, environmental, economic development and community programs and organizations. For more information visit PECO.com, and connect with the company on Facebook and Twitter.

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