PHILADELPHIA (July 9, 2009) -- PECO has completed a project that is expected to improve reliability for more than 1,000 customers in the city’s Chestnut Hill section.  The $250,000 project was completed as part of the company’s summer readiness efforts, which includes 41 critical projects for infrastructure improvement and new facilities this year.

PECO crews upgraded a local circuit serving area customers from 4 kilovolt (kV) distribution to a 13 kV line, serving the area around Mount Pleasant Avenue north of Chew Street.  This helps ensure the existing electric lines are capable of handling the increased demand for electricity, or electric load, placed on them by cooling appliances like air conditioners, refrigerators, and freezers during the summer months.

The project included work on nearly a mile of aerial electric cable, the installation of 16 new transformers and utility poles, circuit breakers, fuses, and other pole top aerial electric equipment.

Based on normal weather, PECO expects a peak demand of 8,455 megawatts (MW) this summer, which is about 4 percent lower than last year mostly due to economic conditions. The record demand for electricity occurred on August 3, 2006 when customers pushed demand to 8,932 MW during an eight-day extreme heat wave.

PECO’s summer readiness program ranges from inspection and maintenance of aerial and underground electrical equipment, substations and other facilities across the region, infrastructure improvements, particularly in areas with growing electrical usage, emergency response drills and other training for employees, and maintenance and testing of various computer and other support systems.