BGE’s continued investments in electric system upgrades with new technologies have combined to reduce the average length of a service interruption by 50 minutes since 2012, according to a company statement.
Despite 2018 being the wettest year in Maryland’s history, the average number of interruptions experienced by customers was the fourth lowest rate in BGE’s history. When customers did experience an outage, BGE restored power at its second fastest rate ever. During the past 10 years, the number of electric outages has decreased 22% and outage length has been reduced by 40%.
The company explores new technologies that can improve system reliability, such as using drones to enable more efficient equipment inspections, installing specialized equipment that can automatically restore service or isolate damage, and providing storm restoration staff with mobile apps that help them identify and take action on jobs faster.
BGE invested approximately $1.1 billion in the company’s electric system operations and maintenance and infrastructure improvements in 2018. In total, the company has invested more than $9 billion in gas and electric infrastructure since 2002 and will invest $5.3 billion during the next five years.