FirstEnergy Pennsylvania’s plans to enhance smart grids across Pennsylvania were approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Thursday.
The third phase of the company’s Long-Term Infrastructure Improvement Plans (LTIIP III) will ensure electric service reliability for more than two Pennsylvanians, the company said. The company, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. and doing business as Met-Ed, Penn Power, Penelec, and West Penn Power, said the infrastructure improvements will continue through 2029.
“Over the past nine years, our enhancements to the power grid and proactive tree trimming along rights-of-way have yielded positive results,” John Hawkins, FirstEnergy’s President of Pennsylvania, said. “Our tailored improvement plans for each service area align seamlessly with our annual upgrades to the distribution network, helping us deliver the safe and reliable service our customers want and deserve. LTIIP III will further elevate these efforts by rebuilding overhead power lines and integrating more automated technology into our power lines and substations.”
The plans outline using an additional $1.42 billion in capital investment through 2029 across the company’s service areas. The projects will reduce the frequency of service interruptions, and shorten their duration should they occur, the company said. The plans also build on more than $1 billion in investments made during the first two phases of LTIIP from 2016 to today. Since 2019, the company said, power interruptions have dropped by 14 percent in areas where upgrades and improvements have been completed.
The plans will impact smart grids in eastern and southeastern Pennsylvania (MetEd’s nearly 600,000 customers), northern and central Pennsylvania and New York (Penelec’s nearly 600,000 customers), parts of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Crawford, Lawrence and Mercer counties (Penn Power’s nearly 173,000 customers), and 24 counties in central and southwestern Pennsylvania (West Penn Power’s 746,000 customers).