Atlantic City Electric Prepares for Summer Weather

Spring is in the air and that means summer storms are around the corner. Being prepared for emergency situations is more important than ever. That’s why Atlantic City Electric prepares year-round for powerful weather events.
Here are five things you need to know about the preventative work we do to prep for major storms:
1.   Modernizing the local energy grid. During the past five years, we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to improve system reliability, installing innovative technologies such as specialized equipment that can automatically restore service more quickly or isolate damage.
2.   Making the local energy grid more resilient. Through PowerAhead, our grid resiliency program, we are implementing a comprehensive plan to address vulnerable areas that have experienced extended outages during recent severe storms. Between 2017 and 2022, we will invest $79 million on new infrastructure and system upgrades through this targeted initiative.
3.   Trimming trees. Each year, trees cause about 40 percent of power outages for our customers. To prevent falling trees and limbs from affecting service during powerful storms, we annually trim trees along thousands of miles of power lines.
4.   Partnering with first responders. We partner with the Cape May County Office of Emergency Management to share important storm preparedness safety tools with our customers. We also work with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, the Division of Animal Health, and American Red Cross to provide useful tips for preparing for potential weather-related outages.
5.   Training for mutual assistance. As part of the Exelon family of companies, we share best practices with our sister companies – BGE, ComEd, Delmarva Power, PECO and Pepco – and participate in collaborative emergency response training exercises to ensure we can provide seamless support and resources to another Exelon company during a storm or emergency restoration effort.
We are committed to providing our customers with a modern, reliable and resilient energy grid that delivers the service our customers have come to expect. Our ongoing efforts have helped reduce the frequency of power outages by 22 percent for Atlantic City Electric customers during the past five years. And when outages did occur, we restored customers 17 percent faster, on average.
Just like Atlantic City Electric prepares for summer, customers should also be ready too. Visit atlanticcityelectric.com/storm to learn how.