Good morning,
Some of us may remember the summer of 1999. The summer heat and not keeping up with growth in the state led to big-time outages for Delmarva Power.
It triggered an investigation and contributed to a chain of events that eventually led to the sale of the utility to Washington, D.C.-based Pepco. More recently, Pepco became part of utility giant Exelon, which owns BG&E in Maryland and Pepco in Pennsylvania.
The outages led to a concerted effort by Delmarva to upgrade its reliability under former and current management.
The process wasn’t entirely painless or esthetically pleasing. The utility took some heat from residents for clearing tree branches around lines in leafy areas of northern Delaware.
In the end, the overall reliability of Delmarva’s system improved greatly. Sadly, another factor was the closing of large power users that in Delaware included two auto plants and a steel mill.
Of late, one argument with regulators has been over whether further plans to improve reliability justify the added cost.
Indeed, the merger with Exelon was influenced by regulators around the region becoming less willing to OK rate hikes.
Over the weekend, Delmarva customers were hit by Winter Storm Riley, which came with 70-mile-an-hour winds that toppled trees and downed power lines. Tens of thousands of people were without power at one point. As of Monday afternoon, that number was down to 700.
It was a reminder of the power of winter storms that are sometimes described with my favorite new word “bombogenesis.”
Another winter blast is likely, perhaps beginning tonight. Forecasters do not expect to see the intensity of the previous storm, but outages are not out of the question.
Despite the presence of solar panels and backup generators, most of us remain more dependent than ever on that power line that runs to our house.
Those without power for a couple of days may be more willing to pay a little extra each month to lessen the chances of an extended outage.
Here’s to a kinder, gentler storm this week. The newsletter returns tomorrow. – Doug Rainey, publisher.
