Electric utilities' reliability improving, PUC says
The reliability of Pennsylvania's electric utilities "is trending in a positive direction, and we expect more improvement in 2016," an annual Public Utility Commission report says.
The reliability of Pennsylvania's electric utilities "is trending in a positive direction, and we expect more improvement in 2016," an annual Public Utility Commission report says.
Peco and PPL Electric Utilities, which serve much of the region, had the two best records for reliability among the state's seven large electric-distribution companies, according to the PUC report to be released Monday.
The PUC's reliability measures include tallies of the average number of outages each customer suffers per year, and the average outage duration in minutes. In Peco's case, performance has improved in the last four years, the PUC said.
In 2015, Peco experienced 1.23 million customer interruptions and 103.3 million minutes of lost service, compared with 2014's 1.48 million interruptions and 141.6 million minutes of lost service. On average, about seven in 10 Peco customers experienced a 2015 outage. Peco has nearly 1.7 million customers.
Peco attributed the improvements to the more than $500 million it invests each year in preventive maintenance and equipment upgrades, along with new metering technology that allows it to monitor its system more closely. The new equipment includes reclosers, which reroute power to minimize the number of customers affected by an outage.
"These advanced devices helped the company prevent more than 580,000 sustained customer interruptions in 2015," said Greg Smore, a Peco spokesman.
In 2015, the state's electric utilities said they failed 38 times to achieve PUC quarterly benchmarks for frequency and duration of outages, down from 53 misses the year before. Peco met all of its benchmarks last year; PPL missed one.
The PUC's report excludes abnormal or "major events" from the calculation, however. Peco suffered the most severe storm damage of any utility in 2015, when a June thunderstorm and winds knocked out 352,763 customers for up to six days.
Most outages are caused by equipment failures, vehicles striking poles, animals, lightning, and trees.
The PUC's report is unlikely to satisfy customers like John J. Rounce of Delaware County, who says he has suffered more his share of outages.
Last year, Rounce filed a formal complaint with the PUC alleging Peco has failed to live up to its obligation to provide reliable service to his Upper Providence home. "These problems have persisted for 30 years, and Peco has done nothing," he said.
After a hearing February, he is awaiting a decision from the PUC.
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BY THE NUMBERS
1.23M
Number of Peco customer outages in 2015
103M
Minutes of lost service
84
Duration of each customer outage, in minutes
3,300
Miles of power lines Peco will clear of vegetation in 2016EndText