Improving Reliability

We are committed to enhancing reliability and the customer experience

We are investing more than a half-billion dollars over the next five years to improve reliability and improve customer service. These investments for a more reliable future include adding web-based technology to keep our customers informed, adding customer service representatives and increasing their training, replacing and upgrading electrical equipment, trimming trees, and helping to build a reliable smart grid. This is the biggest reliability effort in our 116-year history and customers are beginning to see the benefits of our work.

We are seeing results from our work

Where we have completed work, we have seen the number and length of outages decline. Customers served by upgraded power lines experienced a 39 percent reduction in the average number of power outages of normal day-to-day service during 2011 as compared to 2010. When outages did occur, they did not last nearly as long, declining by 56 percent compared to 2010.

Outage Frequency Improvement
(average number of outages)
December 2010 to December 2011

Outage Duration Improvement
(in minutes)
December 2010 to December 2011

We are improving our entire system

To improve service, we have implemented changes that include:

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.

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

Installing advanced technology
We continue to renew and replace underground cable in residential developments that, for the most part, was installed during the 1970s.

Accelerating and expanding our tree-trimming program
Trees and limbs that fall on power lines are a direct cause of power outages. In fact, most outages during inclement weather are caused by trees. As part of our accelerated tree-trimming program, we have more than doubled the number of experienced tree trimmers working in the field.

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. We are identifying these areas and selectively replacing overhead lines with underground systems.

We are working to improve the customer experience

In addition to the upgrades we have made, we have worked to improve the customer experience. We have:

Doubled the number of customer care representatives
Enhanced training for customer care representatives
Doubled the number of phone lines
Improved outage maps
Improved methods for estimating times of restoration

For more updates on our reliability efforts, read our monthly progress reports for the District of Columbia and Maryland. Our system reliability is improving because of our work, but there is still work to be done.