Since starting smart grid investments in 2012, ComEd customers have been spared more than 16 million service interruptions due in part to smart grid and system improvements, including distribution automation or “smart switches” that reroute power in real-time around potential problem areas. The avoided outages have resulted in $2.7 billion in societal savings, including avoided business losses.
The power of these investments was on full display in August when an unprecedented derecho storm and tornadoes interrupted power to more than 800,000 customers. If not for these investments, this storm would have caused nearly twice as many families and businesses to lose power, a two-week restoration and millions of additional dollars in costs.
For information on what ComEd is doing to improve reliability, visit ComEd.com/SmartGrid.