Across the six Exelon (Nasdaq: EXC) utilities in 2021, customers again experienced a year of historically strong electric service reliability as a result of the company's strategic investments in energy grid resiliency and modernization, coupled with a commitment to operational excellence and affordability. Exelon’s results emphasize the importance of hardening the grid against the effects of climate change to counter the trend of decreasing grid reliability identified in a recent Associated Press study.
“We’re proud that Exelon’s utilities have turned in a year of exceptionally strong reliability in our service territories, even as evidence suggests that the grid is even more challenged by increasingly extreme weather events,” said Calvin Butler, Exelon’s Chief Operating Officer. “Our company and employees are committed to serving our customers with excellence and creating a stronger, modernized grid to stand up against the effects of climate change. Not only are we responding to the effects of climate change on the grid today, we also are committed to reducing the impact of our operations by cutting our operational emissions in half by the end of this decade and achieving net-zero operational emissions by 2050.”
Highlights of 2021 electric service reliability performance across Exelon include:
Atlantic City Electric customers experienced the lowest frequency of electric outages ever. The frequency of outages has improved by 60 percent over the last 10 years.
BGE customers experienced the second-lowest frequency of interruptions in the company's history. Since 2010, the number of electric outages has decreased 45 percent and outage length has been reduced by 37 percent.
ComEd delivered some of its highest levels of year-over-year reliability. Since grid improvements began in 2011, overall reliability has improved 68 percent and ComEd has avoided more than 17 million outages for customers, saving more than $3 billion in outage costs. In the first three months of this year, ComEd customers experienced the most reliable service of any year on record.
Delmarva Power customers in Maryland experienced the lowest frequency of electric outages and the fastest service restoration times, on average, in the company's history. The average number of outages for customers in Delaware was almost 41 percent lower than in 2011, and restoration times were the fastest in the company's history.
In 2021, PECO invested over $1 billion in reliability-focused infrastructure improvements to help prevent customer outages, modernize the electric grid and promote adoption of clean energy options. PECO’s modernized grid saved over 1 million customers from experiencing an outage in 2021.
Pepco customers in Maryland experienced the lowest frequency of electric outages ever. District of Columbia customers experienced the second lowest frequency of electric outages ever, just shy of the record set in 2020. Over the past decade, the frequency of electric outages Pepco customers have experienced has decreased 69 percent.
Across Exelon, service reliability for customers continues to improve despite an increasing threat of severe weather--the primary cause of widespread, protracted outages. For example, six of the 10 most damaging storms ever to hit PECO's service territory have occurred in the last decade, and an August 2020 storm in northern Illinois was so intense nearly one in four ComEd customers lost power (crews restored service to more than 500,000 customers within a day).
Significant, targeted investments are making the electric grid more resilient to these powerful storms and other events that affect reliability.
- Battery storage, like ACE's Beach Haven Battery Storage Project, eases the strain of peak demand and provides backup power;
- Transmission system upgrades, like BGE's TSREP, increase reliability and ease congestion;
- Automated equipment installations, like those recently showcased by ComEd and PECO, quickly reroute power around faults;
- Substation modernization, like Delmarva Power's Chestertown Substation Reliability Project, helps meet the current and future energy needs of area residents and businesses; and
- Distribution equipment undergrounding, like Pepco's D.C. PLUG initiative with the District Department of Transportation, better protects vulnerable systems.
The full breadth of this and other reliability work at Exelon is vast, and the company plans to invest $29 billion over the next four years to further improve service.
More information about Exelon's utilities is available at exeloncorp.com.
About Exelon
Exelon (Nasdaq: EXC) is a Fortune 200 company and the nation’s largest utility company, serving more than 10 million customers through six fully regulated transmission and distribution utilities — Atlantic City Electric (ACE), Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), Commonwealth Edison (ComEd), Delmarva Power & Light (DPL), PECO Energy Company (PECO), and Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco). More than 18,000 Exelon employees dedicate their time and expertise to supporting our communities through reliable, affordable and efficient energy delivery, workforce development, equity, economic development and volunteerism. Follow Exelon on Twitter @Exelon.
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