On average, Duquesne Light Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., invests US$60 million a year on preventive maintenance, vegetation management and system improvements throughout its 800-square-mile service territory in Allegheny and Beaver counties.

Duquesne Light crews conduct preventive maintenance on the automated distribution equipment that continuously monitors circuit performance. This equipment is remotely controlled from its central distribution operations center, allowing the company to re-route power to restore service quickly to large blocks of customers during storms. Other ongoing initiatives include expanding the number of capacitors on the system to help ensure stable voltage and add additional electrical capacity when needed. The company is modifying its distribution circuits to make them less sensitive to disturbances that can cause "blinking-clock" momentary type of service interruptions. The company's vegetation management program focuses on keeping power lines clear of troublesome trees and brush that can interrupt the flow of electricity.

These types of efforts have helped Duquesne Light surpass, over the past five years, reliability benchmarks set by Pennsylvania regulators and continue to improve customer satisfaction.

At the heart of the company's program to provide high levels of reliability and service are the lineworkers and support personnel based at nine service centers strategically located throughout Allegheny and Beaver counties. The geographic distribution of these facilities positions field personnel and equipment close to the communities served by the company. Service-center crews provide scheduled maintenance work in their respective areas but quickly shift into emergency mode when storms occur.

To ready storm response personnel, Duquesne Light recently completed an emergency storm drill and critiqued its performance. The drill involved the service centers, the centrally located operations center, and the call center, which is the first point of contact for affected customers.

"From equipment replacement and upgrades to dedicated service personnel, Duquesne Light continues to work hard to provide customers with a safe, reliable, secure, reasonably priced source of electricity--regardless of the weather," said Fred Eichenmiller, general manager, Operations and Underground. "We're focused on reducing the number of, and the time needed to correct power outages caused by storms. Along with quick restoration, we will continue to provide useful restoration information, so when there is an outage, our customers have a reasonable estimate of when power will be restored, and, can plan accordingly."