Winter’s cold temperatures, heavy snow and wind can cause damage to poles, wires and substations, requiring crews to make repairs in difficult conditions. To prepare for winter, JCP&L is performing inspections and maintenance on weather-sensitive equipment. Doing this work now can help keep your power on when the season is at its worst.

Some of the preparations include the following:

• Substation electricians are inspecting batteries used to power relays that sense faults on the network. They’re also checking motors that automatically operate switches to isolate those problems. This work helps to prevent outages or limit the number of people affected.
• Company bucket trucks and other vehicles are being inspected to help ensure safe operation during the winter season. We’re also checking our snow removal equipment, which is used to help crews gain access to substations and to clear the work areas.
• Helicopter patrols also are completing inspections of transmission lines, looking for damaged equipment not visible from the ground.
• We continue our year-round tree trimming schedule to maintain proper clearances around electrical systems and to protect against tree-related outages.

If an outage does occur, you can easily check the progress of the restoration efforts with our 24/7 Power Center outage maps at www.firstenergycorp.com/outages. These maps allow you to see when crews have been dispatched, when they are working on a repair, and when additional crews or equipment are needed to complete restoration work.

Remember – you can report an outage and receive regular updates on its status with our alert notifications through emails and texts. Visit www.firstenergycorp.com/connect for more information.