PECO’s Long-Term Infrastructure Improvement Plan Targets System Investments to Enhance Electric Service Reliability for Customers

$1.36 billion strategic investment plan aims to prevent customer outages, modernize the electric grid, and reduce the impact of extreme weather on electric infrastructure

PHILADELPHIA (November 23, 2020) – On November 19, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approved PECO’s Electric Long-Term Infrastructure Improvement Plan (LTIIP), which is part of the company’s efforts to enhance service reliability for customers. PECO’s plan outlines the investment of $1.36 billion on targeted reliability-focused electric system infrastructure investments during a five-year period from 2021 through 2025. These strategic investments will help to prevent customer outages, modernize the electric grid, and reduce the impact of extreme weather on electric infrastructure. This work will also support the adoption of clean energy resources.

The investment plan, known as PECO’s Reliability & Resiliency Plan, is part of the company’s overall system investment to keep the lights on and natural gas flowing for customers. During the next five years, PECO will be investing approximately $6 billion across its electric and natural gas systems to inspect equipment, complete targeted system enhancements and corrective maintenance, invest in new equipment, and perform vegetation management. Approximately one-third of the company’s overall system investment is dedicated to strategic initiatives to further improve reliability for customers.

“Our customers are counting on us to deliver safe and reliable electric service, and the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored how critical continued electric service is for the region,” said PECO President & CEO Mike Innocenzo. “The targeted system enhancements in this plan will help strengthen the electric system to better withstand more frequent and damaging storms, deliver enhanced reliability for our customers, and enable the adoption of clean energy resources.”

The plan will focus on three priority areas of infrastructure improvement for accelerated investment, all which are aimed at preventing outages for customers. Those areas include preventing outages related to more extreme storms, proactively replacing electric cable, and replacing or retiring aging substation equipment and small substations.

Working to prevent storm-related outages

To combat the effects of a changing climate and more frequent and severe storms, like the storms of this summer, PECO will invest approximately $441 million on targeted investments in areas that have experienced repeated storm-related outages. Improvements include replacing poles, wires, and other equipment to better withstand wind and ice and retiring older substations and upgrading portions of the electric system these facilities serve.

Replacing electric cable

Approximately $605 million will be invested to accelerate the targeted replacement of approximately 1,000 miles of distribution cable, typically installed underground, to prevent frequent and extended outages.

Replacing or retiring aging substation equipment and small substations

Approximately $21 million will be allocated to proactively replace aging substation equipment, including switchgear and associated equipment like transformers, within substations to prevent issues before they occur. Nearly $300 million will also be dedicated to retiring additional small, obsolete substations.

In addition to improving service reliability in targeted areas, the system improvements will also pave the way for additional clean energy resources, like solar, and support vehicle electrification throughout the service territory. Retiring aging substations and upgrading portions of the electric system with new equipment and increasing the voltage of nearby circuits also increases the ability to support more customer-owned solar generation facilities. Ensuring reliable power also becomes more critical as the use of electric vehicles expands and customers increasingly rely on charging capabilities at their homes for vehicles.

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PECO, founded in 1881, is Pennsylvania's largest electric and natural gas utility. Headquartered in Philadelphia, PECO delivers energy to more than 1.6 million electric customers and more than 532,000 natural gas customers in southeastern Pennsylvania. The company's 2,900 employees are dedicated to the safe and reliable delivery of electricity and natural gas as well as enhanced energy management conservation, environmental stewardship and community assistance. PECO is a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (Nasdaq: EXC), the nation's only Fortune 100 utility and leading competitive energy provider. For more information visit PECO.com, and connect with the company on Facebook and Twitter.

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