Baltimore Gas & Electric reports sharp decrease in service interruption time

Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) officials said the average length of a service interruption has decreased by 55 minutes, 38 percent, since 2010.

The drop is due to several factors, including investments in electric system infrastructure upgrades, increased adoption of innovative technologies, and the company’s dedicated employees.

“Each and every day, BGE focuses on maintaining and improving our strong foundation of providing safe, reliable, and affordable energy to all of our customers in central Maryland. This is especially important during the pandemic, as many Marylanders spend more time at home–working, helping children attend school remotely, or navigating programs that offer support to those who are sick or unemployed,” BGE President and Chief Operating Officer Stephen Woerner said. “As we harden and automate our system to reduce outages and increase restoration speeds, we will continue to innovate to build system resiliency – all with the support of our dedicated, prepared lineworkers who are in the field every day delivering for their customers.”

Since 2010, the number of electric outages has decreased 45 percent while the outage length has gone down by 38 percent. This past year, the average number of interruptions was the second-lowest rate in BGE’s history.

In 2020 alone, BGE invested nearly $1.4 billion in infrastructure improvements and operations and maintenance of its electric system. Since 2014, the company has invested $11.8 billion in improving, operating, and maintaining both the gas and electric systems. Among the investments, BGE has deployed drones to enable more efficient and safer equipment inspections, installed specialized equipment that can automatically restore service or isolate damage and provided storm restoration staff with mobile apps that help them identify and get to jobs faster.

BGE serves more than 1.3 million electric customers and more than 680,000 natural gas customers in central Maryland. BGE is a subsidiary of Exelon Corp.