Baltimore Gas and Electric reduces outages and interruptions

Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) has reduced the average length of a service interruption by 58 minutes over the past 10 years through various upgrades and improvements.

Electric system upgrades and the deployment of new innovative technologies have contributed to the reduction in interruptions. Since 2009, the number of outages has dropped by 32 percent and outage length has been reduced by 40 percent, the company said.

“BGE focuses on customer service, which is why we continuously work to deliver safer and more reliable electricity throughout our service area,” BGE President and Chief Operating Officer Stephen Woerner said. “Our customers are experiencing some of the best reliability ever and BGE will continue to strive to improve through modernizing our system, better using the data enabled by our smart grid, and having the most prepared and dedicated lineworkers in the industry.”

Last year, the average number of interruptions was the second-lowest rate in BGE’s history. Further, BGE restored power at the second-fastest rate in its history when customers did experience an outage. The company invested approximately $1.1 billion in infrastructure improvements and operations and maintenance in 2019. Since 2014, BGE has invested more than $9.6 billion in infrastructure and operations improvements.

Among the technologies the company has employed in recent years, BGE uses drones to enable more efficient equipment inspections. Also, it installs specialized equipment that can automatically restore service or isolate damage and provides storm restoration staff with mobile apps that help them get to jobs faster.