FAIRMONT, W.Va., Jan. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its
ongoing efforts to improve its electric system, FirstEnergy Corp.
(NYSE: FE) invested $227 million in
2015 on Mon Power service reliability projects and other work,
including building new transmission lines, new substations, and
installing remote-control equipment to help reduce the number and
duration of power outages.
"Each year we undertake transmission and distribution projects
that will help us enhance day-to-day service reliability for our
customers," said Holly Kauffman,
president of FirstEnergy's West Virginia Operations. "The
infrastructure work also helps prepare our system for future
growth, including the expanding Marcellus shale industry that is
driving load growth as more midstream gas processing plants and
pipeline facilities come on line throughout our Mon Power
territory."
Some of the key FirstEnergy projects in Mon Power's 34-county
service area in 2015 included:
- Constructing a new 138-kilovolt transmission line and
substation near West Milford,
W.Va., to enhance service reliability for more than 14,000
Mon Power customers in Harrison,
Lewis and Gilmer counties. The line was completed
and operational by December, with about $17
million of the $19.5 million
project spent in 2015.
- Investing about $18 million to
provide electrical service to new residential and commercial
customers in north-central West
Virginia, including the Interstate-79 corridor and
Parkersburg region.
- Upgrading and replacing equipment on distribution circuits
throughout the service territory at a cost of about $7 million. The updates – including
installing new wire, cable and fuses – target enhanced reliability
for Mon Power customers. This includes completing a project
that began in 2014 to enhance reliability in Pendleton County.
- Inspecting about 77,000 distribution poles and replacing about
300 poles at a cost of more than $900,000.
- Investing approximately $600,000
to replace transmission equipment in various locations throughout
Mon Power's service area.
About $90 million of the total was
spent on transmission-related projects owned by the Trans-Allegheny
Interstate Line Company (TrAILCo), a FirstEnergy transmission
affiliate.
Planning is continuing for additional projects that are expected
to be completed in 2016, including new substations, transmission
lines and circuit upgrades.
Mon Power also began using a new app in 2015 to more efficiently
respond to public safety hazards caused by severe weather and
traffic accidents. Employees in the field can use this new
mobile device technology to automatically enter hazard information
into the company's outage management system which helps protect the
public from hazards such as downed wires and more quickly restore
power to customers.
Mon Power also is continuing its Power Systems Institute program
to train future linemen and substation electricians. The
program combines learning hands-on utility skills at company
training facilities with technical coursework at Pierpont Community
and Technical College in Fairmont,
W. Va. Recruiting efforts are underway for the next class
that will begin school this fall. Information about the Power
Systems Institute is available at www.firstenergycorp.com/psi or by
calling 800-829-6801.
Mon Power, a FirstEnergy electric distribution company, serves
about 385,000 customers in 34 West Virginia counties. Follow
Mon Power on Twitter @MonPowerWV.
FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company dedicated to safety,
reliability and operational excellence. Its 10 electric
distribution companies form one of the nation's largest
investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, West Virginia,
Maryland and New York. The
company's transmission subsidiaries operate more than 24,000 miles
of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic
regions, while its generation subsidiaries control nearly 17,000
megawatts of capacity from a diversified mix of scrubbed coal,
non-emitting nuclear, natural gas, hydro and other
renewables. Visit FirstEnergy online at
www.firstenergycorp.com and follow on Twitter at
@FirstEnergyCorp.
Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes
forward-looking statements based on information currently available
to management. Such statements are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties. These statements include declarations regarding
management's intents, beliefs and current expectations. These
statements typically contain, but are not limited to, the terms
"anticipate," "potential," "expect," "forecast," "target," "will,"
"intend," "believe," "project," "estimate," "plan" and similar
words. Forward-looking statements involve estimates, assumptions,
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may
cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially
different from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, which may
include the following: the speed and nature of increased
competition in the electric utility industry, in general, and the
retail sales market in particular; the ability to experience growth
in the Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments
and to successfully implement our revised sales strategy for the
Competitive Energy Services segment; the accomplishment of our
regulatory and operational goals in connection with our
transmission investment plan, including but not limited to, our
pending transmission rate case, the proposed transmission asset
transfer, and the effectiveness of our repositioning strategy to
reflect a more regulated business profile; changes in assumptions
regarding economic conditions within our territories, assessment of
the reliability of our transmission system, or the availability of
capital or other resources supporting identified transmission
investment opportunities; the impact of the regulatory process on
the pending matters at the federal level and in the various states
in which we do business including, but not limited to, matters
related to rates and the Electric Security Plan IV in Ohio; the impact of the federal regulatory
process on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC)-regulated entities and transactions, in particular FERC
regulation of wholesale energy and capacity markets, including PJM
Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM) markets and FERC-jurisdictional
wholesale transactions; FERC regulation of cost-of-service rates,
including FERC Opinion No. 531's revised Return on Equity
methodology for FERC-jurisdictional wholesale generation and
transmission utility service; and FERC's compliance and enforcement
activity, including compliance and enforcement activity related to
North American Electric Reliability Corporation's mandatory
reliability standards; the uncertainties of various cost recovery
and cost allocation issues resulting from American Transmission
Systems, Incorporated's realignment into PJM; economic or weather
conditions affecting future sales and margins such as a polar
vortex or other significant weather events, and all associated
regulatory events or actions; changing energy, capacity and
commodity market prices including, but not limited to, coal,
natural gas and oil, and their availability and impact on margins
and asset valuations; the continued ability of our regulated
utilities to recover their costs; costs being higher than
anticipated and the success of our policies to control costs and to
mitigate low energy, capacity and market prices; other legislative
and regulatory changes, and revised environmental requirements,
including, but not limited to, the effects of the United
States Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan, coal
combustion residuals regulations, Cross-State Air Pollution Rule
and Mercury and Air Toxics Standards programs, including our
estimated costs of compliance, Clean Water Act waste water effluent
limitations for power plants, and Clean Water Act 316(b) water
intake regulation; the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of the
capital expenditures that may arise in connection with any
litigation, including New Source Review litigation, or potential
regulatory initiatives or rulemakings (including that such
initiatives or rulemakings could result in our decision to
deactivate or idle certain generating units); the uncertainties
associated with the deactivation of certain older regulated and
competitive fossil units, including the impact on vendor
commitments, and as they relate to the reliability of the
transmission grid, the timing thereof; the impact of other future
changes to the operational status or availability of our generating
units and any capacity performance charges associated with unit
unavailability; adverse regulatory or legal decisions and outcomes
with respect to our nuclear operations (including, but not limited
to the revocation or non-renewal of necessary licenses, approvals
or operating permits by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or as a
result of the incident at Japan's
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant); issues arising from the
indications of cracking in the shield building at Davis-Besse; the
risks and uncertainties associated with litigation, arbitration,
mediation and like proceedings, including, but not limited to, any
such proceedings related to vendor commitments; the impact of labor
disruptions by our unionized workforce; replacement power costs
being higher than anticipated or not fully hedged; the ability to
comply with applicable state and federal reliability standards and
energy efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; changes in
customers' demand for power, including, but not limited to, changes
resulting from the implementation of state and federal energy
efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; the ability to
accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic and
financial goals, including, but not limited to, the ability to
continue to reduce costs and to successfully execute our financial
plans designed to improve our credit metrics and strengthen our
balance sheet through, among other actions, our
previously-implemented dividend reduction, our cash flow
improvement plan and our other proposed capital raising
initiatives; our ability to improve electric commodity margins and
the impact of, among other factors, the increased cost of fuel and
fuel transportation on such margins; changing market conditions
that could affect the measurement of certain liabilities and the
value of assets held in our Nuclear Decommissioning Trusts, pension
trusts and other trust funds, and cause us and/or our subsidiaries
to make additional contributions sooner, or in amounts that are
larger than currently anticipated; the impact of changes to
material accounting policies; the ability to access the public
securities and other capital and credit markets in accordance with
our financial plans, the cost of such capital and overall condition
of the capital and credit markets affecting us and our
subsidiaries; actions that may be taken by credit rating agencies
that could negatively affect us and/or our subsidiaries' access to
financing, increase the costs thereof, and increase requirements to
post additional collateral to support outstanding commodity
positions, letters of credit and other financial guarantees;
changes in national and regional economic conditions affecting us,
our subsidiaries and/or our major industrial and commercial
customers, and other counterparties with which we do business,
including fuel suppliers; the impact of any changes in tax laws or
regulations or adverse tax audit results or rulings; issues
concerning the stability of domestic and foreign financial
institutions and counterparties with which we do business; the
risks associated with cyber-attacks on our electronic data centers
that could compromise the information stored on our networks,
including proprietary information and customer data; and the risks
and other factors discussed from time to time in our United States
Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and other similar
factors. The foregoing review of factors should not be
construed as exhaustive. New factors emerge from time to time, and
it is not possible for management to predict all such factors, nor
assess the impact of any such factor on FirstEnergy's business or
the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may
cause results to differ materially from those contained in any
forward-looking statements. FirstEnergy expressly disclaims any
current intention to update, except as required by law, any
forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/firstenergy-invested-227-million-in-the-mon-power-service-area-in-2015-to-help-enhance-electric-system-300209983.html
SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.