Mon Power, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., has hired eight new line and substation employees as part of its ongoing efforts to enhance service reliability for customers in West Virginia.
The employees are members of the first West Virginia graduating class of the company's Power Systems Institute (PSI), a utility training partnership established in 2012 with Pierpont Community & Technical College in Fairmont, W.Va. PSI is an award-winning, two-year educational program originally developed by FirstEnergy in 2000 to help prepare the company's next generation of utility line and substation workers.
"The PSI program is an effective pipeline for adding well-trained, highly skilled employees to our workforce," said Holly Kauffman, president of FirstEnergy's West Virginia Operations. "By teaming with our veteran linemen and substation personnel, these new employees will help ensure reliable service for our customers, now and in the future."
The new employees, and hometowns, are: Brett Chambers, Tunnelton; Ryan Compton, Bridgeport; Zach Dean, Core; Jalin Dixon, Terra Alta; Adam Leonard, Fairmont; Justin McNay, Mannington; Kyle Ware, Frametown; and Charles Zimmerman, New Cumberland.
The PSI curriculum requires two-and-a-half days each week spent at Pierpont completing academic course work with the remainder of the week spent at a Mon Power training facility in White Hall, W.Va., focusing on safe work practices and procedures in the electrical environment. Ultimately, students earn an associate of applied science degree in Electric Utility Technology.
Since the program's inception, FirstEnergy has hired 834 line and 274 substation personnel who completed PSI programs in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
