AKRON, Ohio, April 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania Power
Company (Penn Power), an indirect subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp.
(NYSE: FE), will use helicopter patrols to conduct transmission
line inspections throughout its service territory through November
as part of its ongoing efforts to help enhance service
reliability.
Residents may see a small helicopter flying at low altitude or
hovering over high-voltage lines and transmission towers while
workers examine power line connections and other equipment
throughout western Pennsylvania. Local law enforcement
agencies will be notified before inspections take place.
Every four years, the entire transmission system in Penn Power's
service area also is inspected with infra-red and ultraviolet light
cameras, which assist workers to determine where equipment might be
at a higher operating temperature than normal, a common indicator
of imminent equipment failure. These inspections also are
done from a helicopter, but the aircraft will generally be moving
at 25 to 30 miles per hour as these cameras are operating.
These inspections will be conducted on 3,000 miles of transmission
lines in Penn Power and neighboring Ohio Edison service areas this
year.
"Completing these routine inspections via helicopter is a safe
and cost-efficient way to help ensure that our transmission system
remains durable and reliable," said Kevin
Sestak, vice president of Operations for Penn Power.
"The helicopter can provide on-board observers with a clear view of
our overhead equipment far more quickly and easily than workers on
the ground."
Flight schedules are subject to adjustment due to inclement
weather and other conditions, but are expected to continue through
November. To increase efficiencies, the helicopter will
inspect the entire length of a circuit, which means inspections
may, at times, extend into neighboring utility service areas.
Penn Power is an indirect subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. and
serves more than 160,000 customers in all or parts of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Crawford, Lawrence, and Mercer counties in western Pennsylvania.
Visit FirstEnergy on the web at www.firstenergycorp.com, and follow
Penn Power on Twitter @Penn Power and on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/pennpower.
FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company dedicated to safety,
reliability and operational excellence. Its 10 electric
distribution companies form one of the nation's largest
investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, West Virginia,
Maryland, and New York.
Follow FirstEnergy on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp.
Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes
forward-looking statements based on information currently available
to management. Such statements are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties. These statements include declarations regarding
management's intents, beliefs and current expectations. These
statements typically contain, but are not limited to, the terms
"anticipate," "potential," "expect," "forecast," "will," "intend,"
"believe," "project," "estimate" and similar words. Forward-looking
statements involve estimates, assumptions, known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results,
performance or achievements to be materially different from any
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by
such forward-looking statements, which may include the following:
the speed and nature of increased competition in the electric
utility industry, in general, and the retail sales market in
particular; the ability to experience growth in the Regulated
Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments and to
successfully implement our revised sales strategy for the
Competitive Energy Services segment; the accomplishment of our
regulatory and operational goals in connection with our
transmission investment plan, pending transmission and distribution
rate cases and the effectiveness of our repositioning strategy to
reflect a more regulated business profile; changes in assumptions
regarding economic conditions within our territories, assessment of
the reliability of our transmission system, or the availability of
capital or other resources supporting identified transmission
investment opportunities; the impact of the regulatory process on
the pending matters at the federal level and in the various states
in which we do business including, but not limited to, matters
related to rates and pending rate cases, including the Electric
Security Plan IV in Ohio; the
impact of the federal regulatory process on the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) regulated entities and transactions,
in particular FERC regulation of wholesale energy and capacity
markets, including PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM) markets and
FERC-jurisdictional wholesale transactions; FERC regulation of
cost-of-service rates, including FERC Opinion No. 531's revised
Return on Equity methodology for FERC-jurisdictional wholesale
generation and transmission utility service, and FERC's compliance
and enforcement activity, including compliance and enforcement
activity related to North American Electric Reliability
Corporation's mandatory reliability standards; the uncertainties of
various cost recovery and cost allocation issues resulting from
American Transmission Systems, Incorporated's realignment into PJM;
economic or weather conditions affecting future sales and margins
such as a polar vortex or other significant weather events, and all
associated regulatory events or actions; regulatory outcomes
associated with storm restoration costs, including but not limited
to, Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Irene and the October snowstorm of
2011; changing energy, capacity and commodity market prices
including, but not limited to, coal, natural gas and oil, and their
availability and impact on retail margins; the continued ability of
our regulated utilities to recover their costs; costs being higher
than anticipated and the success of our policies to control costs
and to mitigate low energy, capacity and market prices; other
legislative and regulatory changes, and revised environmental
requirements, including, but not limited to, proposed greenhouse
gases emission and water discharge regulations and the effects of
the United States Environmental Protection Agency's coal combustion
residuals regulations, Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, Mercury and
Air Toxics Standards, including our estimated costs of compliance,
and Clean Water Act 316(b) water intake regulation; the uncertainty
of the timing and amounts of the capital expenditures that may
arise in connection with any litigation, including New Source
Review litigation, or potential regulatory initiatives or
rulemakings (including that such expenditures could result in our
decision to deactivate or idle certain generating units); the
uncertainties associated with the deactivation of certain older
regulated and competitive fossil units, including the impact on
vendor commitments, and the timing thereof as they relate to the
reliability of the transmission grid; the impact of other future
changes to the operational status or availability of our generating
units; adverse regulatory or legal decisions and outcomes with
respect to our nuclear operations (including, but not limited to
the revocation or non-renewal of necessary licenses, approvals or
operating permits by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or as a
result of the incident at Japan's
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant); issues arising from the
indications of cracking in the shield building at Davis-Besse; the
risks and uncertainties associated with litigation, arbitration,
mediation and like proceedings, including, but not limited to, any
such proceedings related to vendor commitments; the impact of labor
disruptions by our unionized workforce; replacement power costs
being higher than anticipated or not fully hedged; the ability to
comply with applicable state and federal reliability standards and
energy efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; changes in
customers' demand for power, including, but not limited to, changes
resulting from the implementation of state and federal energy
efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; the ability to
accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic and
financial goals, including, but not limited to, the ability to
continue to reduce costs and to successfully execute our financial
plans designed to improve our credit metrics and strengthen our
balance sheet through, among other actions, our
previously-implemented dividend reduction and our other proposed
capital raising initiatives; our ability to improve electric
commodity margins and the impact of, among other factors, the
increased cost of fuel and fuel transportation on such margins;
changing market conditions that could affect the measurement of
certain liabilities and the value of assets held in our Nuclear
Decommissioning Trusts, pension trusts and other trust funds, and
cause us and/or our subsidiaries to make additional contributions
sooner, or in amounts that are larger than currently anticipated;
the impact of changes to material accounting policies; the ability
to access the public securities and other capital and credit
markets in accordance with our announced financial plans, the cost
of such capital and overall condition of the capital and credit
markets affecting us and our subsidiaries; actions that may be
taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect us
and/or our subsidiaries' access to financing, increase the costs
thereof, and increase requirements to post additional collateral to
support outstanding commodity positions, letters of credit and
other financial guarantees; changes in national and regional
economic conditions affecting us, our subsidiaries and/or our major
industrial and commercial customers, and other counterparties with
which we do business, including fuel suppliers; the impact of any
changes in tax laws or regulations or adverse tax audit results or
rulings; issues concerning the stability of domestic and foreign
financial institutions and counterparties with which we do
business; the risks associated with cyber-attacks on our electronic
data centers that could compromise the information stored on our
networks, including proprietary information and customer data; and
the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in our
United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and other
similar factors. The foregoing review of factors should not be
construed as exhaustive. New factors emerge from time to time, and
it is not possible for management to predict all such factors, nor
assess the impact of any such factor on FirstEnergy's business or
the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may
cause results to differ materially from those contained in any
forward-looking statements. FirstEnergy expressly disclaims any
current intention to update, except as required by law, any
forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.