A stronger grid against storms

A stronger grid against storms

Updated at 11 a.m. Friday (3/2): Today’s nor’easter with its high winds is causing a lot of damage throughout our service area, and more bad weather is to come. There are many individual repair locations, so some outages may be prolonged. We urge customers to prepare for that possibility.

We don’t yet have restoration times for specific locations but will provide that info when we can.

Hundreds of PPL employees and contractors are working to fight the effects of this storm. We’ll work as quickly and safely as we can to restore power and will keep you informed as the storm develops.

In the meantime, please stay safe. Stay clear of downed lines and report them ASAP to 1-800-DIAL-PPL. And report any outages at 1-800-DIAL-PPL or www.pplelectric.com/outage.

Our investments in our network have significantly reduced storm-related outages, while also making our grid more resilient and secure. A few examples:

  • Our innovative smart grid technology has restored power to more than 190,000 customers since it went live in early 2016. It has also reduced storm-related outages by 20 percent. The smart grid automatically senses a power outage and reroutes power around the damage, restoring service for many customers within minutes.
  • There was a 76 percent reduction in lightning-related outages on transmission lines from 2012-17 because of investments in lightning protection.
  • Tree-caused outages continue to decrease. Trees are the leading cause of storm-related outages. We clear trees along more than 10,000 miles of power lines each year, and we’ll continue this comprehensive work to keep reducing outages.

That said, severe weather — like 60-mph winds, ice storms, heavy snow or lightning — can still cause outages. Here are some storm tips to help you prepare and respond to any problems.

  • Before the storm hits, make sure your cell phones and other personal devices are fully charged.
  • Also, make sure your PPL Alerts are set up so you receive outage or other info when and how you want it. We’ll send you the latest updates by phone, email, text or all three. Setting your preferences is as simple as going to www.pplelectric.com/alerts. (You’ll need to have an online account with us.)
  • Report any outages by calling 1-800-DIAL-PPL (342-5775) or by visiting www.pplelectric.com/outage. Don’t assume someone else has reported the outage.
  • Stay away from any downed lines and always assume the line is still energized. Call us immediately at 1-800-DIAL-PPL to report the line and keep pets and kids away.
  • If you have to run a generator, make sure you run it outdoors in a well-ventilated area — never indoors or in a garage.
  • Use flashlights, not candles, to reduce fire risk.

More storm and outage safety and prep tips can be seen here.

Power around the clock

Power around the clock

What does reliable electric service mean to you?

If you own a business, it means that your computers, machinery, or cash registers can always be counted on to work when things are busiest.

At home, it means your personal space can always be relied on to be well-lit and comfortable, and the electricity-driven items that make your life easier are always doing their jobs when you want them.

Reliable electricity even makes a difference when you’re out on the road. It powers streetlights, traffic lights and crossing signals that make travel safe and orderly.

Strong electric service touches just about everything you do, everywhere you go. That’s why we’re proud to say that PPL Electric Utilities’ reliability in 2017 was our strongest on record.

In recent years we’ve been installing smart grid technology, using data analytics to improve equipment maintenance and replacement, replacing older poles and equipment with strong newer models, doing comprehensive clearing of vegetation along power lines, installing better protection against damage from lightning strikes, and more.

The result? Our customers experienced 550,000 fewer interruptions in 2017 than they did 10 years before. In fact, PPL Electric Utilities customers now experience some of the best electric reliability in the country: PPL ranks in the top 11 percent of utilities nationwide in terms of the lowest average number of outages per customer, according to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

You might have noticed this reliability during the extreme cold of January. Our system handled high demand and cold temperatures without missing a beat. That’s our goal any time extreme weather arrives, whether it’s winter cold or summer heat.

What’s next? Well, we continue to invest in improving our grid. There are always places where we can improve – places where the system can be strengthened or made more flexible. We continue to trim trees, rebuild power lines, replace old poles, and more.

We’ll never be able to completely banish outages – especially after high winds, ice storms or other natural menaces.

But we’re committed to continued improvement. Because we know that whether you’re at work, at home or on the road, you count on us to deliver.

On the air – and up in the air

On the air – and up in the air

As morning TV watchers might have noticed, we hosted — and hoisted — a special visitor at our Lancaster Service Center early in the morning of Monday, June 12.

Drew Anderson, weatherman at WMPT Fox 43 in York, met with Regional Operations Director Dana Ferber for a series of live shots during the station’s morning program — including one from a bucket truck. We were pleased to have the chance to talk with Drew about safety, reliability and other topics.

For those who couldn’t tune in on the day, here are a few snapshots:

 Drew (who wears a hard hat well) used cups of coffee and cold water for a demonstration of infrared cameras. We use infrared cameras for line and equipment inspections — “hot spots” may be a sign of problems that we can fix before they turn into outages.

We use drones for some line inspections as well, as Drew and Dana discussed here.

More from the hot-vs.-cold infrared demonstration.

On one of the hottest mornings of the year so far, Drew put on some of the safety gear worn by our line workers for a taste of what it’s like to work in the field.

Dana explains the importance of safety in all we do.

Getting a firsthand look of the line worker’s life, Drew, Dana and a cameraman go up in bucket trucks for a live broadcast.

More from the live broadcast — going on the air, from up in the air.

Cutting outages short

Cutting outages short

Our goal is to provide exceptional service to you.

One key way we’re doing that is with a new automated power restoration system that’s turning the lights back on for customers in minutes, even before a work crew has made repairs.

The system uses smart grid technology that includes pole-top sensors to detect outages, a central computer that quickly analyzes the problem, and remote-control switches that reroute power and restore customers to service.

Here’s a video that shows how it works:

This advanced technology has already meant shorter power outages for thousands of homes and businesses, as the system has been phased in around our delivery area. It became fully operational in June.

During severe thunderstorms the week of July 18, our smart grid restored 9,488 homes and businesses to service in an average of one minute and 56 seconds. The following week, during another round of severe storms, the technology restored 5,308 customers automatically in an average of one minute and 36 seconds.

Here are some other recent examples of smart grid operations:

  • A tree branch fell on a power line in Thompsontown, Juniata County, on April 9, cutting power to 1,800 customers. The PPL smart grid returned 1,016 of the customers to service in four minutes.
  • An equipment failure in the Whitehall area June 28 cut power to 1,578 customers. In two minutes, 856 of the customers were back in power.
  • A storm in the Bloomsburg area June 28 cut power to 1,694 customers. In four minutes, smart grid had turned power back on for 1,456 customers.
  • A tree fell on a power line in the Macungie area on June 24, cutting power to 1,758 customers. In two minutes, 923 of the customers were returned to service.

We’re continuing to invest in technology and equipment to improve reliability for you. We’ve reduced outages by 30 percent since 2007, with an improvement of another 15 percent expected in the next five years. Last year our reliability programs prevented an estimated 410,000 power outages.