FirstEnergy Crews Assisting Allegheny Energy With Storm Restoration Efforts in Pennsylvania and West Virginia
AKRON, Ohio, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) utilities have sent 124 employees – including 49 line crews – to Washington, Uniontown and Jefferson, Pennsylvania, and Sistersville, West Virginia, to help restore electrical service to the 40,000 Allegheny Energy customers who remain without power following a storm that hit the region Wednesday evening.
Four of FirstEnergy's utilities are part of the mutual assistance effort, including 19 crews from Pennsylvania Electric Company, 20 crews from Ohio Edison/Pennsylvania Power, and 10 from Toledo Edison. Managers, mechanics and safety personnel also are included in the company's contingent.
This marks the third time within the last nine months that FirstEnergy crews provided assistance to Allegheny Energy customers following severe weather. In December of 2009, more than 120 FirstEnergy employees helped with restoration efforts following a large ice and snowstorm that hit parts of West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania. And in February of this year, 285 FirstEnergy employees provided support to the Washington and Jefferson areas in Pennsylvania after a snow storm left more than two feet of heavy snow on the ground. In addition, 71 FirstEnergy utility line crews recently returned from Maryland after assisting Pepco customers affected by the windstorm that hit the greater Washington, D.C. area.
FirstEnergy is a member of multiple electric utility mutual-assistance groups that work cooperatively to restore service to customers when a natural disaster causes large-scale power outages. In the past, FirstEnergy and its employees have been honored by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) with its "Emergency Assistance Award" for the mutual assistance the company has provided during winter and summer storms. Most recently, the company won the EEI award for providing assistance to utilities in Kentucky and Ohio following severe ice storms in January of 2009.
FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Its subsidiaries and affiliates are involved in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, as well as energy management and other energy-related services. Its seven electric utility operating companies comprise the nation's fifth largest investor-owned electric system based on serving 4.5 million customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey; and its generation subsidiaries control more than 14,000 megawatts of capacity.
SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.
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