Mon Power, Potomac Edison working on projects to enhance reliability in West Virginia

Mon Power and Potomac Edison, both subsidiaries of FirstEnergy Corp. that serve West Virginia, are working on five projects totaling $1.5 million to enhance electric service reliability for some 8,700 customers in rural communities.

The projects, which are on track to be finished by the end of the year, are part of a three-year West Virginia infrastructure investment pilot program approved earlier this year by the Public Service Commission of West Virginia. The program is designed to benefit rural communities through reliability projects, such as constructing backup power lines and relocating hard-to-access power lines to more accessible areas.

The five projects include:

• Berkeley County: Reinforcing and rewiring a 1.8-mile backup power line, benefiting 2,577 Potomac Edison customers in Inwood.
• Marion, Monongalia and Preston counties: Relocating a half-mile length of power line from a ravine to a more accessible and less forested area. The relocation will make the line accessible via bucket truck and will decrease the time needed to repair damage and restore service. The project will benefit 2,091 customers located in Fairmont, Gladesville, Hebron and Ringgold.
• Nicholas County: Converting 2.2 miles of a power line from a 4-kilovolt (kV) voltage to 12-kV, enhancing reliability for 821 customers in Richwood.
• Pocahontas and Greenbrier counties: Relocating a half-mile length of power line from a cliffside to a more accessible area. The relocation will decrease the time needed to restore service and will benefit 1,707 customers in Renick, Modoc, Rorer, Horrock, Droop, Spice and Hillsboro.
• Summers County: Relocating a mile of power line from a cliffside to a more accessible area. The relocation will decrease the time needed to restore service and will benefit 1,472 customers in Browning, Wiggins and Forest Hill.

“Our three-year infrastructure investment pilot program will make a meaningful impact for customers in our rural communities by reducing their exposure to outages and helping ensure they have safe, reliable power to support their lives,” Jim Myers, vice president of FirstEnergy’s West Virginia and Maryland Operations, said.

Mon Power serves about 395,000 customers in 34 West Virginia counties, while Potomac Edison serves about 285,000 customers in seven counties in Maryland and 155,000 customers in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.

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