Report: Pennsylvania electric companies struggle with outages

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(The Center Square) – Pennsylvania not only experienced a record number of outages last year, but most of its electric distribution companies also struggled to meet established reliability standards, a new report says. 

While severe storms and vegetation-related damage were cited as primary outage causes, the issues were compounded by the challenges of an aging grid.

In 2024, there were 71 reportable outage events, or ROEs – the highest number recorded in more than 30 years. These events disrupted electric service for residents and businesses across the state, marking a sharp increase from 49 in 2023, according to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s latest Electric Service Reliability Report. 

Of those events, PPL experienced 17 – the most of such events reported by an electric distribution company, or EDC, over the past 32 years, since the commission has kept records. 

Additionally, more than 2.8 million Pennsylvanians lost service at some point during the year, compared to 1.67 million in 2023. 

As in past years, the report says, severe weather and vegetation remain the leading causes of outages – in particular, storms that topple off-right-of-way trees and bring down overhanging limbs from weakened canopy trees.

The PUC’s Bureau of Technical Utility Services is urging all EDCs to reexamine and strengthen their vegetation management and capital improvement programs to address these ongoing threats. 

The report also notes that utilities should explore new technologies and practices – such as advanced monitoring tools, improved conductor protection, and targeted undergrounding – to reduce risks while balancing the cost impacts on ratepayers.

Ongoing reliability concerns were also highlighted in the report.

The PUC uses four IEEE reliability indices to evaluate utility performance: average restoration time for affected customers; average outage duration for all customers; average frequency of outages per customer; and average frequency of brief outages under five minutes. Utilities report these metrics on both a 12-month and three-year average, but the commission sets benchmarks only for restoration time, outage frequency and duration.

The report states that most of the 11 distribution companies in the state struggled to meet these established reliability benchmarks in 2024. 

Notably, only three utilities – PECO, UGI, and Wellsboro – met the commission’s standard performance metrics across all three reliability indices, for both the year-end and rolling three-year averages. Two others, Penn Power and Duquesne Light, met the rolling 12-month outage frequency benchmark, making five utilities with passing grades in that category.

While the deployment of advanced grid technologies continues to help utilities reduce the number of customers impacted during outage events, those same technologies can sometimes lengthen the duration of repairs in the hardest-hit areas due to the complexity of the damage.

This trend – fewer customers experiencing outages during some events but longer outages for those affected – reinforces the need for sustained investments in utility infrastructure and vegetation management, the report says. 

While some increase in outages could be due to aging infrastructure that is impacted by weather, they also appear to be increasing in frequency for all distribution companies – including those that have strong infrastructure improvement plans. 

Nine of the commonwealth’s 11 distribution companies have approved Long-Term Infrastructure Improvement Plans, which are critical for addressing aging equipment and enhancing system resilience. 

Utilities with significant investments in these programs have historically been among the best performers in meeting reliability benchmarks, although they too faced challenges during 2024.

The PUC says it continues to emphasize the importance of balancing reliability improvements with affordability for consumers, noting that utilities must carefully weigh infrastructure and vegetation management investments alongside the impact of costs on customers.