PECO announces improved reliability performance in 2020

Philadelphia Electric Co. (PECO) experienced improved performance in 2020 due to ongoing efforts to modernize and enhance the electric infrastructure.

The enhancements, combined with the use of new technologies and the work of employees, reduced the number of outages and the duration of outages last year. The number of electric outages decreased 11 percent last year from 2019, while the outage length dropped 16 percent from the previous year. These are the fourth and fifth lowest totals in the company’s history, respectively.

“We know our customers are counting on us to deliver the energy they need to power their lives, and the pandemic has underscored the critical nature of our work,” PECO Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer John McDonald said. “The strategic investments we’re making during the next several years will continue to enhance service reliability for our customers and will build upon our strong foundation of providing safe, reliable, affordable, and clean energy for our customers.”

The investments in the infrastructure will continue as PECO will be spending roughly $6 billion across its electric and natural gas systems over the next five years. The funding includes PECO’s Reliability & Resiliency Plan, which outlines the investment of $1.36 billion on reliability-focused electric system infrastructure investments during a five-year period from 2021 through 2025. It will help to prevent customer outages, modernize the electric grid, reduce the impact of extreme weather on electric infrastructure, and support the adoption of clean energy resources. Further, the money will be used to inspect equipment, make infrastructure enhancements, conduct maintenance, invest in new equipment, and perform vegetation management.

The company is exploring new technologies to improve reliability for customers, including drones to enable more efficient equipment inspections and faster damage assessments following storms. They are also looking at installing stronger poles and tree-resistant aerial cable, along with equipment known as reclosers that can automatically restore service or isolate damage. Already, more than 3,000 reclosers have been installed across PECO’s service territory. These have prevented more than two million power outages over the last two years.

PECO is Pennsylvania’s largest electric and natural gas utility, serving more than 1.6 million electric customers and 532,000 natural gas customers in southeastern Pennsylvania.