Delmarva Power Customers Experienced Company’s Most Reliable Service, Thanks to Electric Grid Performance and Resiliency Enhancements

Infrastructure projects to build a smarter, stronger and cleaner energy grid support a 54 percent overall decrease in outages over 10 years.
Apr 10, 2024 10:40 AM ET

NEWARK, Del., April 10, 2024 /3BL/ - Delmarva Power’s efforts to reinforce the local energy grid, add new technology and smart devices and targeted projects to increase resiliency against more frequent and impactful weather events, resulted in customers experiencing the lowest frequency of electric outages ever in 2023. When outages did occur, crews averaged a safe restoration of service within 58 minutes systemwide.

“Providing reliable energy service is an integral part of our commitment to offer world-class experience to our customers,” said Tamla Olivier, chief operating officer of Pepco Holdings, which includes Delmarva Power. “This accomplishment is the result of our ongoing investment in local energy infrastructure and reflects the dedication of every Delmarva Power employee to supporting our customers.”

Delmarva Power’s investments strengthen the grid against increasingly frequent and impactful weather events as the result of climate change and supports efforts to enable clean energy resources like solar and electric vehicles. In 2023, key projects to further reliability and resiliency include:

  • East New Market to Cambridge Reliability Project – A major modernization project that rebuilt 11 miles of existing transmission line to strengthen the local energy grid and enhance service reliability for more than 13,600 local customers in Dorchester County.
  • Carrcroft to Silverside Reliability Project – Part of our broader strategic effort to strengthen and modernize the energy grid across our service area. The project includes rebuilding more than 1.4 miles of existing transmission line with new state-of-the-art steel poles and modern equipment. These more reliable structures are designed to withstand severe weather conditions and will enhance service reliability to more than 6,000 customers in New Castle County.
  • Vienna to West Cambridge Reliability Project – A critical modernization project that includes rebuilding nearly 20 miles of existing transmission line to strengthen the local energy grid and enhance service reliability for nearly 12,000 local customers in Dorchester County.

These projects are bolstered by ongoing reliability efforts in the Delaware and Maryland, and the installation of innovative technologies to improve system reliability, such as specialized equipment, like smart switches and reclosers to automatically detect issues and restore service faster by automatically isolating damage. These technologies have been a major driver in the continued reduction in outages for customers.

Continued infrastructure investments will help support strong reliability for customers and help meet the growing energy demands of communities across Delaware and Maryland.

For more information on additional reliability enhancement projects, visit delmarva.com/Reliability.

To learn more about Delmarva Power, visit The Source, Delmarva Power’s online newsroom. Find additional information by visiting delmarva.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/DelmarvaPower and on X, formerly known as Twitter, at twitter.com/DelmarvaConnect. Delmarva Power’s mobile app is available at delmarva.com/MobileApp.

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About Delmarva Power 
Delmarva Power is a unit of Exelon (Nasdaq: EXC), a Fortune 250 company and the nation’s largest utility company, serving more than 10 million customers. Delmarva Power provides safe and reliable energy service to approximately 561,500 electric customers in Delaware and Maryland and approximately 140,000 natural gas customers in northern Delaware.

Contact: Zach Chizar 
Delmarva Power Communications 
800-201-5764 (media hotline)