FirstEnergy submits plans to modernize grid for its Ohio utilities
Three Ohio utilities owned by FirstEnergy have filed plans with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to expand investments in smart grid technology.
The three utilities — Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, and Toledo Edison – have proposed a four-year, $626 million investment plan. Ohio Grid Mod II builds upon upgrades completed as part of their Grid Mod I plan in 2019, which resulted in improved outage restoration times for customers in areas where the smart technology was installed.
“The projects we’ve completed under Grid Mod I have proven to be successful in reducing many power interruptions. This has laid the foundation for us to further enhance service reliability across our entire service area in Ohio,” Sam Belcher, senior vice president of FirstEnergy Operations, said. “While events out of our control, like severe weather or vehicle accidents, still have the potential to cause outages, the proposed plan will allow us to enhance our results from Grid Mod I and expand the work to areas of our service territory that have not yet benefited from these enhancements.”
Grid Mod II plan includes installing automated equipment on nearly 240 distribution grid sections that can automatically isolate problems, minimize the number of customers impacted by an outage, and quickly restore electric service. Further, it includes the installation of some 700,000 smart meters. This follows the installation of some 704,000 smart meters as part of Grid Mod I. Further, Grid Mod II would offer smart thermostat rebates of $50 per thermostat.
The filing also includes a pilot program to install higher capacity residential and commercial EV chargers that can charge vehicles faster. The program will consist of up to 600 EV charging ports at residential customer homes with incentives of up to $750. There is also a program that offers incentives of up to $2,000 per EV charging port for up to 300 commercial customer locations. Also, they propose incentives of up to $20,000 for up to six commercial or governmental customers with ten or more fully electric vehicles. The plan also includes installing a battery energy storage system to support increased EV charging load along the Ohio Turnpike.
“The benefits of Grid Mod II for our Ohio customers through enhanced reliability, energy efficiency opportunities, and innovative products and services are estimated to exceed the costs of the program by nearly $280 million in today’s dollars,” Belcher said. “We are excited to enhance the delivery of safe, reliable power through this investment while also promoting modern experiences and emerging technologies that can ultimately help lower energy bills to our customers.”
If approved by the PUCO, a typical FirstEnergy Ohio utility residential customer could expect an average monthly charge of about $2.40 for the length of the Grid Mod II plan.
