When adverse weather affects our service area, BGE is prepared. If you experience a power outage or need to report a downed wire, please call 877.778.2222. BGE asks all customers, including those with smart meters, to report their outage. Outages may also be reported online, by texting OUT to MYBGE (69243), and via BGE’s free mobile app available today at the Apple Store or GooglePlay. BGE crews work as safely and quickly as possible to restore power.
For Immediate Release
Contact
Aaron Koos
aaron.koos@bge.com
BALTIMORE (Feb. 3, 2016) –BGE customers are benefitting from the company’s ongoing investment in improving the reliability of the electric equipment serving central Maryland. In 2015, the frequency of electric service interruptions, including those caused by all weather events, was BGE’s lowest on record. Last year, customers who did experience outages, except during significant weather events, had power restored faster than ever before—reducing the average length of outages by 45 minutes since 2012. BGE ranks in the top 25 percent of the most reliable electric utilities nationwide.
“As we mark our 200th year of operations in 2016, we are inspired by the spirit of innovation that helped build this company to find new ways to better serve our customers year after year,” said Calvin G. Butler, Jr. chief executive officer of BGE. “We continue to invest in new equipment, smarter systems and maintenance programs to give our customers the services they need to power their lives, homes and businesses.”
BGE has invested more than $5 billion in system upgrades and expansions since 2002 and will invest an additional $3 billion in the next five years. In addition to upgrades to poles and wires and increased trimming of trees near power lines, customers are benefitting from a smarter grid that helps isolate damage and re-route power more quickly to help minimize disruption. The company is also accelerating the replacement of natural gas equipment under its STRIDE gas system modernization plan.
Beyond reliability improvements, recent investments in the system are also helping customers to save on energy costs. BGE estimates that customer savings created by the company’s recently completed smart grid deployment will exceed $1.5 billion dollars.
Even excluding significant weather events during what was a relatively mild year for storms in 2015, BGE’s day-to-day system reliability was the second best on record, after 2014. The company also continues to share best practices with its Exelon sister utilities, ComEd in Chicago and PECO in Philadelphia, which also posted record reliability performances in 2015.
###
BGE, headquartered in Baltimore, is Maryland’s largest natural gas and electric utility, delivering power to more than 1.25 million electric customers and more than 650,000 natural gas customers in central Maryland. The company’s approximately 3,200 employees are committed to the safe and reliable delivery of natural gas and electricity, as well as enhanced energy management, conservation, environmental stewardship and community assistance. BGE is a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation’s leading competitive energy provider, with 2014 revenues of approximately $27.4 billion. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.
