MAYS LANDING, N.J. (May, 31 2017) - Today, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) announced its approval of PowerAhead, Atlantic City Electric's (ACE) grid resiliency program. PowerAhead is a comprehensive plan to modernize the electric grid through enhancing system resiliency by addressing vulnerable areas on the electric system that have experienced extended outages during recent severe storms. Over the next five years, ACE will spend approximately $79 million on new infrastructure and system upgrades to its electric grid to further improve system reliability. 

"Modernizing our energy infrastructure and upgrading our existing electrical systems is critical to providing quality service to our customers," said Vince Maione, Atlantic City Electric region president. "PowerAhead will not only strengthen the electric grid and make it more resistant to severe storms, it will also help create jobs that will have a positive impact on our South Jersey economy."

PowerAhead will result in gradual rate changes over the five years of the program as individual projects are completed and are serving customers. The PowerAhead distribution rate adjustment will result in a rate increase for a typical residential customer using 716 kilowatt hours per month of $0.49 or 0.38 percent, upon completion of all projects after five years. The first rate adjustment is not expected to occur prior to July 2018. 

PowerAhead's planned projects include:

• Increased system automation and remote control for faster and safer restoration. This work entails the rebuild of approximately 15.5 miles of distribution feeders to improve resiliency by installing 71 reclosers, automation devices on feeder lines that isolate outages and enable quicker restoration. In addition, the program will extend remote capability to an additional 90 stand-alone reclosers that will allow system personnel to identify a fault location and restore service to customers remotely in extreme weather conditions.
• Selective undergrounding upgrades to existing distribution feeders.
• Constructing system ties to the barrier islands from the mainland through upgrades and expansion of the distribution system to improve resiliency against extreme weather events.
• Structural and electrical enhancements including conductor upgrades and the replacement of single operations fuses with reusable electronic fuses intended to automatically restore service. 

For more information about Atlantic City Electric, visit www.atlanticcityelectric.com. Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/atlanticcityelectric and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/acelecconnect. Our mobile app is available at www.atlanticcityelectric.com/mobileapp.