When the lights come on with the flip of a switch, most people don’t think about the miles of equipment working behind the scenes to deliver electricity safely and reliably – 47,000 miles to be exact. We’re making significant investments across our service territory to strengthen that system and help reduce outages, especially during severe weather.
Why we’re making these improvements
Pennsylvania experiences its share of challenging weather. Strong winds, lightning, ice, heavy rain and falling trees can damage electric equipment and cause power outages. That’s why we’re strengthening our electric grid to make it more resilient and easier to restore when storms occur.
Our goal is simple: provide more reliable electric service for the customers and communities we serve by reducing outages, limit the number of customers affected and restore power faster when an outage does occur.
What we’re doing
Across central and eastern Pennsylvania, we’re making targeted improvements to the electric system that delivers power to homes and businesses. Depending on the needs of each community, this work may include:
- Installing smarter technology: We’re expanding smart grid technology to quickly detect problems, isolate outages and reroute electricity when possible. In some cases, power can be restored in under 5 minutes.
- Upgrading poles, wires and equipment: Older equipment is being replaced with stronger, more modern materials designed to better withstand high winds, ice and other severe weather conditions.
- Creating more flexibility in the grid: We’re adding connections between power lines so electricity can be rerouted during outages. This can reduce the number of customers affected when problems occur.
- Placing some lines underground: In locations where it makes sense, we’re moving certain overhead power lines underground. This can help reduce storm-related damage and improve reliability in those areas.
- Improving access to electric equipment: We’re relocating some equipment to safer, easier-to-reach areas. This can help crews restore power more safely and efficiently when outages occur.
What you may see
As this work moves forward, customers may notice utility crews and specialized equipment working along roads or within utility rights-of-way. Temporary traffic controls, signs or work zones may also be present. In some areas, customers may see upgrades to poles, wires or underground equipment.
We’ll continue working to minimize impacts on local communities and the environment while completing this important work as safely and efficiently as possible.
How these investments benefit you
These projects are designed to deliver long-term value by:
- Improving everyday reliability
- Helping prevent outages during severe weather
- Reducing the number of customers affected when outages occur
- Restoring power more quickly after storms
- Supporting future growth and development across our region
Reliable electricity powers nearly every aspect of our daily lives. That’s why we’re continuing to invest in a stronger, smarter and more resilient electric grid.
These improvements are part of our ongoing commitment to deliver safe, reliable service today while preparing for the needs of tomorrow. Learn more about our reliability work.
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Good morning, Massiel,
I see that you were able to set up an arrangement online. If you have any additional questions, please call customer service at 1-800-342-5775 to discuss. Thank you!
I appreciate your work in this area. It is important to me.
how about cutting the hundreds of trees laying on the wires in our area!
Good morning, Nicholas. PPL Electric Utilities maintains vegetation near pole-to-pole distribution wires and performs routine maintenance year-round and on a cyclical basis. If you know of specific trees/lines that need attention, please call us at 1-800-342-5775 to report a tree trimming request.
Hello. I live in east hempfield township, lancaater County. You came through our development and replaced some poles. You seem to have forgot to switch this one over to the new pole.
This has been like this for 2 to 3 years.
I can give you a location if you would like. I also have some photos as well.
Thank you!
Brian
Good morning, Brian.
When we replace poles, we can move our wires, but the communication companies must move theirs. We notify the companies and must wait for them to complete the job before we can remove the old pole.
Please contact our New Construction department at 1-877-220-6016. If you have the specific pole number, that would be extremely helpful. A representative in that department can issue a Field Service Request to get more information on the status of this pole.
There is no reliability- when we have an outage it will most likely last for 24 hours. It is so bad I’ll be installing a whole house generator. $20,000 is a lot of money to spend because of the shortcomings of PPL. How bad will it be when we have data centers?
Good morning, Mark. If you have concerns about the reliability in your area, please call our New Construction department at 1-877-220-6016. A representative there can forward the information to the Reliability department, and someone can reach out to discuss the issues with you. Thank you.
I am happy to see the steps you are taking to improve reliability. These are very important enhancements and shows good management and foresight. Thanks
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On July 3, 2026 there was a storm which took out sections of power in the neighborhood. Every neighborhood surrounding the street where my business is located was restored by midnight with the exception of Anthracite St in Wilkes Barre. The power was out for 15 1/2 hours I fully understand priorities like hospitals and nursing homes, no problem with that. However, in my business I manufacture ICE for retail sale and July 4th is my biggest day of the year. After 15 1/2 hours my inventory was reduced to bags of water. I was graciously informed at 9:30 AM that the power was restored!! Thank you PPL for great service……. so much for reliability!!!!!! This was the worst response in my 26 years of owning this business.
First July 4th that we were not open in 80 years of operation.
Joe Marczak, owner
Sanitary Ice Manufacturing Co
Good afternoon, Joe. This storm sequence was one of the most impactful weather events in our company’s history. Thousands of personnel supported restoration efforts across our service territory, including line workers, forestry crews, contractors, damage assessors and mutual assistance personnel. It was the largest restoration workforce we have assembled since Hurricane Sandy, reflecting both the scale of the damage and our commitment to restoring power as safely and quickly as possible. We understand being without power is extremely difficult. Every outage matters to us, and we took every measure to restore all of our customers as quickly as we could.