FirstEnergy line rebuild to benefit 1,300
customers and meet increased power demand
READING,
Pa., Oct. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy
Pennsylvania Electric Company (FE
PA), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) doing
business as Met-Ed in northeastern Pennsylvania, recently upgraded its
distribution system in southeast Monroe
County to help prevent service disruptions and accommodate
ongoing residential and commercial growth. The work included
rebuilding part of an existing power line with larger diameter wire
capable of carrying more electricity, enabling customers to stay
comfortable during heat waves and cold snaps.
John Hawkins, FirstEnergy
President, Pennsylvania: "We
reconstructed part of the main line parallelling Marshalls Creek
Road with new utility poles, wires, crossarms and other equipment
to enhance electric service for about 1,300 customers in
Marshalls Creek and Middle Smithfield Township. This significant
investment will help us meet increasing electrical load growth in
this busy corner of our Pocono Mountains service territory and
provide additional grid resiliency in a heavily wooded region that
regularly experiences severe weather."
Crews recently completed work on a 1.6-mile section of the
34.5-kilovolt (kV) line following Marshalls Creek Road from Brushy
Mountain Road to Wooddale Road. The project included:
- Replacing existing wire with larger wire capable of
transporting more electricity to meet the area's increasing
electrical demand, including in the Wilderness Acres
and Wooddale subdivisions.
- Replacing 43 utility poles, 110 crossarms, guy wires and
other hardware with new equipment.
- Replacing aging fuses and insulators and adding animal guards
that prevent animals from contacting energized equipment and
causing outages.
- Replacing 13 protective devices that safeguard the line from
lightning strikes.
Met-Ed replaced wire and similar equipment on an adjacent
stretch of the same power line in 2021.
The upgrades are being completed as part of FE PA's Long
Term Infrastructure Improvement Plan (LTIIP) in the Met-Ed service
area, a $153 million initiative to
accelerate capital investments to the company's electric
distribution system over five years to help ensure continued
electric service reliability for customers. LTIIP is part of
Energize365, FirstEnergy's grid evolution program focused on
investing $26 billion between 2024
and 2028 across its six-state footprint to create a smarter, more
secure grid that delivers the power customers depend on today while
also meeting the challenges of tomorrow.
In late 2023, tree trimming crews worked along Marshalls Creek
Road to trim along the power line corridor in locations where
utility poles would be replaced. They also trimmed along the road
last month as part of the routine vegetation management cycle to
further enhance electric service reliability for local Met-Ed
customers. Tree branches contacting electrical equipment is a
leading cause of power outages, and maintaining a clear
right-of-way beneath power lines provides easier access for line
workers to reach damage and quickly make repairs to restore power
when outages occur.
Met-Ed serves approximately 592,000 customers within 3,300
square miles of eastern and southeastern Pennsylvania. Follow Met-Ed on X @Met
Ed and on Facebook at facebook.com/MetEdElectric.
FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and
operational excellence. Its electric distribution companies form
one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems,
serving customers in Ohio,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West
Virginia, Maryland and
New York. The company's
transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of
transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic
regions. Visit FirstEnergy online at firstenergycorp.com and
follow FirstEnergy on X @FirstEnergyCorp.
Editor's Note: Photos of Met-Ed's reconstructed
34.5-kV power line along Marshalls Creek Road in Middle Smithfield Township are available for
download on Flickr.
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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.