Greetings from Met-Ed!
As we face the colder temperatures outside, may the good cheer of friends and family keep you warm inside this Holiday Season!
Below are some tips and information that may be useful to you and your residents or constituents. Feel free to share.
Thank you for all you do on behalf of our communities. It is a pleasure to serve you!
Kathy Seilhamer
Met-Ed External Affairs
Holiday Lighting Safety Reminder
Holiday lights are a tradition that reaches back to the earliest days of electricity, and now is the most popular time for home decoration. Met-Ed hopes everyone will enjoy this festive season while also remembering a few tips to help ensure the holidays remain safe.
Outdoor Lighting Safety:
• Check all lights for frayed wires or areas where insulation has pulled away from plugs or sockets. Discard and replace any damaged light strings.
• Ensure that tacks or nails used to hold light strings do not pierce any insulation on wires or light sockets.
• Use only extension cords that are approved for outdoor use. These cords must meet rigorous safety standards that indoor cords may not meet.
• Outdoor lights, inflatables and other decorations should be plugged into outlets protected by ground fault interrupters.
• Place outdoor lights on a timer or turn them off before you go to bed.
• Outdoor lights, inflatables and other decorations must not be installed under or near any electric power lines.
Indoor Lighting Safety:
• Inspect all light strings and cords for any damage, including frayed wires or insulation that has pulled away from light sockets or plugs. Also check for chewing or scratching damage if you have pets in the house. Discard and replace any damaged light strings.
• Live trees should be kept well-watered.
• No more than three strings of standard indoor lights should be connected to any extension cord.
• Make sure cords are placed where they won’t be stepped on, kinked or pose a tripping hazard.
• Lights should not be permitted to touch drapes, furniture or carpeting.
• Lights should be turned off overnight and when no one is home.
Met-Ed Offers Energy-Saving Tips as Frigid Weather Approaches
With the possibility of below-zero temperatures affecting much of the eastern United States this week, Met-Ed reminds customers of steps they can take to better manage energy bills that may climb as the frigid weather lingers.
• Make sure your home is properly insulated to help reduce heat loss.
• Inspect doors and windows and apply caulk or weather stripping where necessary to keep cold air out.
• Close drapes, blinds and garage doors to retain heat.
• Keep your thermostat at a temperature where you feel comfortable. Each degree lower has the potential to save about 2 percent on your heating bill. Install a programmable thermostat and it will do the work for you.
• Have a professional tune-up and inspect your furnace.
• Clean or replace the furnace filter to improve efficiency.
• Make sure heat can get into the room. Keep furniture and drapes from blocking heat registers and return vents.
• Close the vents in rooms that are not being used.
Met-Ed Completing Long-Term Infrastructure Improvement Plan
Met-Ed is completing work on approximately $7.5 million of electric system projects as part of its 2016 Long-Term Infrastructure Improvement Plan to reduce the number and duration of service interruptions experienced by the company’s 560,000 customers.
“These projects benefit customers by complementing the work we already do each year to enhance the reliability of our electric system,” said Ed Shuttleworth, regional president of Met-Ed. “Our goal is to make our system the best it can be when it comes to limiting the number of outages our customers experience.”
Projects completed this year in the Met-Ed service area include:
• Replacement of more than 1,600 porcelain protective switches on poles and wires with new polymer devices. The switches – known as “cutouts” – automatically open up when a system irregularity is detected, serving to protect the electrical equipment and limit the number of customers affected by an outage. In 2016, protective switches were replaced on six circuits primarily in Boyertown, Reading, Easton and York.
• Installation of radio-controlled switches on electric circuits. These devices can be operated remotely from the company dispatch center, allowing operators to restore power more quickly and efficiently than dispatching a crew to investigate. Met-Ed is completing this work at almost 70 locations throughout its service area.
• Replacement of 4,300 feet of cable in a Reading-area underground development.
• Installation of more than 1,000 new fuses on 91 circuits throughout Met-Ed’s service area.
In 2017, Met-Ed is expected to spend an additional $9 million on similar Long-Term Infrastructure Improvement Plan projects.
