West Penn Power Completes Major Upgrades in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
FirstEnergy Pennsylvania Electric Company (FE PA), a FirstEnergy company known in western Pennsylvania as West Penn Power, has completed a major upgrade in Westmoreland County to make electric service more reliable and resilient for 2,300 customers in Unity and Hempfield townships.
West Penn Power has rebuilt a key section of its local power grid to help reduce outages, speed restoration times and support local growth.
A one-mile section of new, larger wire running along White School Road between the Dry Ridge Fire Station and Sawmill Road will carry more electricity, helping to reduce the frequency of outages and accommodate new homes and businesses. The upgrades also include new utility poles, crossarms and transformers.
The project includes:
- More power, more reliability: Installing larger wires and upgrading sections of the line from one or two wires to three supports increased demand and maintains voltage for existing homes and businesses.
- New equipment: Replacing 10 wooden utility poles, 22 crossarms, several transformers and other hardware helps keep the lights on.
- Tree trimming: Clearing branches and trees near new pole locations reduces outage risk.
- Flexible operations: Installing a manual switch on the line allows crews to more easily isolate damage and reroute power, speeding repairs.
Residents of the Jamell Acres, Glenn-Aire, Mountain Laurel, East High Acres, Country Estates and Timbercrest housing plans and around Route 30 will benefit from the project. The switching work will also benefit about 1,500 customers in the West Point and Eastgate areas of Hempfield Township.
While the work started in May, it was completed several weeks ago. The upgrades are part of FE PA's Long Term Infrastructure Improvement Plan (LTIIP) III, which fast-tracks important investments in electric system reliability. The LTIIP III investment for West Penn Power's service area is $368 million.
LTIIP is part of Energize365, FirstEnergy's $28 billion investment program to modernize the electric grid across the footprint between 2025 and 2029.