Projects handled by the company include transmission improvements, completion of new distribution circuits, replacement of underground cables, inspection and replacement of utility poles and ongoing vegetation management programs.
The company has invested a total of $60m in 2013 to enhance service reliability. Of the total investment, $6.6m was used to upgrade the distribution system, which includes the installation of new wire, cable, poles, fuses and automatic reclosing devices.
A $7.6m was invested on transmission expansions and enhancements to raise the capacity and robustness of its high-voltage transmission system.
In 2013, the company also completed vegetation management work along more than 3,100 miles of distribution and transmission lines with over $30m investment.
Other projects completed by the company include $1.8m to support the expanding Marcellus shale gas industry; $2.1m project to install a second transformer at the Miracle Run Substation; $15m to offer electrical service to new residential and commercial customers in north-central West Virginia and more.
FirstEnergy West Virginia operations president Holly Kauffman said, "Another critical component of our reliability work is trimming trees and managing vegetation along our distribution and transmission corridors, because when severe weather strikes, trees are a leading cause of outages."
