PENNSYLVANIA, USA — A record high number of "reportable power outage events" during 2021 all related to the impact of the weather on Pennsylvania's power grid disrupted electric service to residents and businesses across the Commonwealth, according to a new report from the Pa. Public Utility Commission.
Last year's 63 events marked the highest number of incidents since the commission began collecting this type of reliability data in 1993. In 2020, there were 46 of these such events, according to the data.
This data is a compilation of Pennsylvania's 11 electric distribution companies including: Citizens’ Electric, Duquesne Light, Metropolitan Edison, PECO, Pennsylvania Electric, Pennsylvania Power, Pike County Light & Power, PPL Electric Utilities, UGI Utilities, Wellsboro Electric, and West Penn Power.
The report states that most of these companies struggled to meet key reliability performance benchmarks last year, and while some of the outages could be attributed to aging infrastructure, the number of reportable events caused by severe weather appear to be increasing in number for all of the companies.
The report notes that this information is provided in order to "reiterate the importance of electric distribution companies continuing to invest in reliability improvement and resilience to weather events."
These companies continue to accelerate their infrastructure improvement while also aiming to improve reliability and resilience through their Long-Term Infrastructure Improvement Plans, also according to the report.
Pa.'s Public Utility Commission has also initiated an Electric Reliability Collaborative, which aims to bring together the companies, the Energy Association of Pennsylvania, and the state’s Office of Consumer Advocate and Small Business Advocate to explore key issues.
These entities have since met several times to discuss issues including electric reliability in general, ways to address off-right-of-way trees, performance metrics, the work of other states, and various regulatory and procedural issues, the report states.
And while severe weather can largely be attributed as the cause of these disruptions in service, the report also notes that smaller storms in 2021 helped limit some impacts.
