Atlantic City Electric’s Grid Performance, Resiliency Enhancements Offer Most Reliable Service In 2023

Atlantic City Electric’s efforts to reinforce the local energy grid, add new technology and smart devices and target projects to increase resiliency against weather events resulted in the lowest frequency of electric outages in 2023. 

The frequency of outages improved by 5% as compared to the previous record performance in 2022. Crews averaged a safe restoration of service within 57 minutes system wide during outages.

“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 Atlantic City Electric. “This accomplishment is the result of our ongoing investment in local energy infrastructure and reflects the dedication of every Atlantic City Electric employee to supporting our customers.”

Atlantic City Electric’s proactive investment strengthened the grid against weather events and supported efforts to enable clean energy resources like solar and electric vehicles. 

The company’s key projects to enhance reliability and resiliency included:

• Beach Haven Battery Storage Project – Installed a battery storage system at an existing substation on Second Street in Beach Haven to improve the quality of energy service for thousands of customers and seasonal visitors in Beach Haven and Long Beach Island during times when customer demand for energy is highest.
• Cape May Substation Reliability Project – Modernizing and upgraded an existing substation serving more than 7,100 customers and is critical to customer reliability in Cape May, West Cape May and Cape May Point.
• Greater Gloucester and Camden Counties Reliability Project – Upgrading 10 miles of transmission line between Monroe Township and Pine Hill to improve reliability for 13,600 customers in Gloucester and Camden counties.
• Salem County Reliability Project - Upgrading approximately 3.5 miles of critical transmission line running along Route 130 between Penns Grove and Pennsville to enhance the quality of energy service for thousands of local customers.

These projects are supported by ongoing reliability efforts across South Jersey, 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. 

The company’s Smart Energy Network project includes the installation of more than 565,000 smart meters and associated equipment to help support strong reliability for customers and meet the growing energy demands of communities across South Jersey.