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Potomac Edison President Overseeing Many Projects

ED WATERS Jr.
The Frederick News-Post

WILLIAMSPORT, Md. (AP) -- Potomac Edison, like many companies, is seeing business pick up after the recession.

"We saw a big reduction in 2008, but now it is starting to go up," said James A. Sears Jr., who took over as president of Potomac Edison a few months ago.

The increased business is primarily residential, Sears said.

Potomac Edison, a FirstEnergy company, is still seeing less power used than in 2007, he said.

Interviewed at his office in Williamsport, Sears said his main goal is reliability for customers. Sears discussed several projects in the works for the utility company, from an upgrade of the Doubs substation to tree trimming, replacing lines and working to ensure better meter reading for consumers.

"The area served by the Doubs plant is our fastest-growing area," Sears said. It includes such sites as Urbana, Germantown and Frederick.

Replacing underground wiring is a major project. When the lines were buried, as required by state law for residential developments built after the 1970s, the company used state-of-the-art technology. But corrosion and other problems have affected some lines, and they will be replaced with newer lines encased in plastic to add longevity.

One of the utility's biggest costs is vegetation control. Potomac Edison will spend $17 million this year to trim trees along power lines. Trimming will continue this summer around Middletown, Sabillasville, Thurmont, Woodsboro and New Market, Sears said.

In all, Potomac Edison expects to spend about $55 million for projects from line upgrades to tree trimming.

"It is like a battleship, you have to keep painting," Todd Meyers, a spokesman for Potomac Edison, said of the tree trimming. "We have about 500 miles of trimming planned this year and are about 70 percent complete."

"We have been lucky with the weather," Sears said.

The company has a "summer ready" program: Less maintenance is done so crews can be ready to respond when power is lost due to storms or overloads.

Some maintenance projects will continue, including pole replacement. Some 33,000 utility poles are in Potomac Edison's service area in Maryland and West Virginia, Meyers said, and about 500 will be replaced.

"The older poles were cedar," said Sears. "New ones will be pine."

The life expectancy of a pole is 10 to 12 years. Since 2011, Potomac Edison has spent $150 million to improve distribution and transmission networks.

A major consumer issue facing the company is estimated billing. Customers have complained, so Maryland and West Virginia utility oversight commissions are looking into actual meter readings versus estimated readings.

"A lot of people don't understand their (electricity) usage," Sears said.

Estimates may be lower than actual use, and when customers get a larger-than-normal bill, they may be paying for power they used earlier, Sears said.

Sears and Meyers said the company is working to resolve the issue, including hiring more personnel.

"We are getting more people on the ground, but they have to be trained, and it will take time," Sears said. More contracted personnel are being brought on board in Frederick and Martinsburg, W.Va.

Meter readers are often pulled off that duty to help with downed power lines, Meyers said.

"They will babysit the lines, make sure people don't come near them until the repairs can be made," he said.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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