Washington, D.C. – Exelon (Nasdaq: EXC) and three of its local energy delivery companies, ComEd, PECO and Pepco, were announced as Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Emergency Response Award recipients at the organization’s annual meeting in Austin last week. Presented to EEI member companies twice a year, the Emergency Response Awards recognize recovery and assistance efforts of electric companies following service disruptions caused by extreme weather or other natural events. The winners were chosen by a panel of judges following an international nomination process.
ComEd was awarded both the Assistance Award for the support to LG&E (Louisville Gas & Electric) and KU (Kentucky Utilities) during their March storm, as well as a Recovery Award for their response during Winter Storm Olive. PECO earned an Assistance Award for supporting FPL (Florida Power & Light) during Hurricane Ian, and Pepco Holdings a Recovery Award for the Thanksgiving weekend plane crash into a transmission tower.
“These awards are a testament to the unwavering commitment and resilience of our utility teams,” said Exelon President and CEO, Calvin Butler. “This is what we do best – rising to the occasion during natural disasters and extreme weather – to continue serving our communities and ensuring their safety and well-being. This recognition reaffirm our relentless commitment to excellence in the realm of emergency response and we remain steadfast in our mission to provide reliable and efficient energy to our millions of customers.”
ComEd’s work to restore power during Winter Storm Olive was remarkable with 29 percent (or 66,156) of customers having their power restored within 2 hours and 85 percent (or 193,905) of customers having their power restored within 22 hours. When assisting LG&E and KU during a March storm, ComEd deployed 421 personnel providing more than 40,416 manhours to support an extensive restoration effort. Over a six-day deployment, ComEd engineers and contractors replaced spans of wire, poles, cross arms and transformers. ComEd’s industry-leading storm and event response has been recognized for more than a decade, with the company receiving 14 EEI awards over a 16-year period.
A PECO team of 12 employees managed work assignments for more than 200 contractors who were deployed to assist in Florida following the devastation of Hurricane Ian. The team worked out of PECO’s Mobile Command Center, a vehicle that provides workspace and all the voice and data communications equipment needed to ensure steady and reliable communication between the host utility and the crews. The crews restored 66 circuits with nearly 200 local power lines and performed damage assessments on an additional 18 circuits.
On Sunday November 27, 2022, teams from Pepco and contractor AUI successfully rescued the occupants of a small passenger plane that crashed into a Pepco 230 kilovolt (kV) transmission tower in Montgomery County, Maryland. The crash damaged four 230kV circuits and severed conductors on adjacent circuits, knocking out power to eight substations, 99 feeders and nearly 90k customers. As the rescue was underway, preparation was performed to reroute electric service where necessary, which allowed power to be restored to all customers in about six hours. Following the rescue, crews worked to remove and secure the plane for FAA investigators and make temporary repairs to allow for restoration of all affected 230kV transmission circuits.
“Ensuring the safety of our customers, communities, and crews is our industry’s top priority. Safety is especially critical during severe storms and extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and winter storms,” said EEI President and CEO Tom Kuhn. “Mutual assistance is a hallmark of our industry, and I commend Exelon and their energy companies’ sustained commitment to aiding neighboring electric companies in times of need. Exelon and its storm response teams are extremely deserving of this national recognition, and I am honored to present them with these well-deserved assistance awards."
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