Enhancing Our Reliability

We're making progress

We are upgrading our electric system to make it more reliable, and our customers are beginning to experience the benefits of our hard work. Since September of 2010, we've trimmed thousands of miles of trees, renewed or replaced hundreds of miles of cable, upgraded equipment and installed advanced technology - all to improve the reliability of our service. The results of these efforts have made a significant impact on both the number and frequency of power outages, and we continue to make progress. We are committed to this initiative – the biggest reliability effort in our 115-year history.

Implementing our plan

To improve service, we’ve implemented changes across our entire system. These are our main areas of focus:

Trimming Trees

Trees that fall on power lines are a direct cause of power outages. In fact, about 75 percent of outages are tree related. As part of our accelerated tree-trimming program, we’ve more than doubled the number of experienced tree trimmers working in the field.

Upgrading Priority Feeders

Feeders are power lines that provide service to about 1,100 people within a neighborhood. We are proactively identifying and replacing portions of feeders that no longer perform reliably.

Installing Advanced Technology

We are installing advanced controls that allow us to identify outages, automatically isolate nonperforming equipment and re-route power quickly in order to speed restoration.

Preparing for System Growth

As communities grow, energy needs grow with them. We are upgrading power lines and equipment to meet our customers’ needs today and in the future.

Moving Select Power Lines Underground

In some areas, improvements to the traditional overhead system do not meet our goals for reliability.

Improving your experience with us

In addition to enhancing reliability, we are making upgrades to systems, technology and service that will help us restore power faster and provide enhanced outage information during an emergency.

Enhancing Customer Care

We’re adding and re-training customer care representatives because it’s important for you to be able to connect with us when the power is out. We’ve prepared for your calls by more than doubling the number of phone lines available and customer service representatives on staff.

Reaching Out to Our Communities

We’re meeting with community groups and talking with your elected representatives to discuss our progress and explain the improvements we’re making.

Improving Maps and Restoration Estimates

We’ve enhanced the outage map on our website to provide more detailed views of outage situations, and we’ve improved our methods of providing estimated times of restoration.

Improving the Restoration Process

Crews now work to restore service to all customers in an area before being reassigned to another outage location.

Installing Smart Meters

We've installed over 100,000 smart meters in homes and businesses in our Maryland service territory. We expect all of our Maryland customers to have one installed by the end of 2012. Once activated, smart meters will alert us when power is out and make the restoration process more efficient.

For more updates on the progress we are making to improve our reliability, read our monthly progress reports for the District of Columbia and Maryland.