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KEYS TO RELIABILITY We measure our reliability by the number of outages and the duration of each outage. But reliability is more than facts and figures. Electricity is an essential service and power outages impact real people and businesses. Our mission is the make sure we keep the lights on and make sure we get them back on quickly in the event of an emergency. So what goes on behind the scenes? What do the men and women of Atlantic City Electric do every day to help ensure the reliability and safety of the system? There are departments within the company that are virtually unknown to the general public, but are crucial to keeping the system strong and running smoothly. Three of those departments are Vegetation Management, Engineering and Operations. Vegetation Management The majority of power outages are caused directly or indirectly by vegetation. Tree limbs can make contact with electrical lines, vines grow into transformers and falling trees can easily bring down poles. Our challenge is to find the right balance between protecting the natural landscape and preventing and minimizing damage to electrical lines and equipment. The Vegetation Management team is responsible for maintaining 7,200 miles of vegetation within our service territory. Approximately 40% of the territory is set within the Pinelands, which is a state and federally protected area and requires special care. The team is also responsible for the inspection and maintenance of about 250,000 wood electrical poles. “Our job is to help the line crews do their job to keep the lines clear and the power on,” says Nick Bocchicchio, Atlantic City Electric Staff Forester. “Keeping trees away from power lines, making sure transformers are clear and helping crews get access to remote locations are all priorities.” The team is comprised of a small group of certified arborists with over 60 years of combined experience. Their primary responsibilities include the management and control of trees, shrubs and other vegetation growing around power transmission and distribution facilities, as well as overseeing the contractor crews who handle much of the work. There are also times when the team works directly with property owners such as when scheduled or emergency work needs to be done. “We used to be called the Forestry department, but we really do quite a bit more than just pruning and trimming,” says Bocchicchio. “We plan our work in four-year cycles so that each part of our service territory For more information and updates, visit atlanticcityelectric.com, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/ACElecConnect and Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/AtlanticCityElectric. Do you have concerns or questions related to your community or constituents? If so, our public affairs managers are available to assist. COUNTY CONTACT EMAIL PHONE Cumberland, Gloucester, Salem Bert Lopez [email protected] 856-863-7945 Atlantic, Burlington, Camden Tom Reilly [email protected] 856-753-2850 Atlantic, Ocean Ken Mosca [email protected] 609-645-4802 Cape May Ronnie Town [email protected] 609-463-3805 ATLANTIC CITY ELECTRIC NEWS FOR GOVERNMENT, BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS JUNE 2014 COMMUNITY FOCUS 84CP22 5100 Harding Highway Mays Landing, NJ 08330 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Clean Ocean Action Beach Sweep: In April, Atlantic City Electric volunteers descended upon a stretch of the Atlantic City beach to help pick up trash and debris. The types of debris will be cataloged in an effort to identify the source and help reduce the amount of debris on the beach. This is the first of two beach sweeps that will take place this year. ACUA Earth Day: In April, Atlantic City Electric employees attended the Atlantic County Utilities Authority Earth Day Festival. Volunteers educated festival goers about conserving energy, protecting the environment, and saving money on their energy bills. CONTINUING TO SUPPORT OUR COMMUNITIES continued from previous page Clean Ocean Action Beach Sweep Nick Bocchicchio, Atlantic City Electric Staff Forester

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KEYS TO RELIABILITY We measure our reliability by the number of outages and the duration of each outage. But reliability is more than facts and figures. Electricity is an essential service and power outages impact real people and businesses. Our mission is the make sure we keep the lights on and make sure we get them back on quickly in the event of an emergency.

So what goes on behind the scenes? What do the men and women of Atlantic City Electric do every day to help ensure the reliability and safety of the system? There are departments within the company that are virtually unknown to the general public, but are crucial to keeping the system strong and running smoothly. Three of those departments are Vegetation Management, Engineering and Operations.

Vegetation Management

The majority of power outages are caused directly or indirectly by vegetation. Tree limbs can make contact with electrical lines, vines grow into transformers and falling trees can easily bring down poles. Our challenge is to find the right balance between protecting the natural landscape and preventing and minimizing damage to electrical lines and equipment.

The Vegetation Management team is responsible for maintaining 7,200

miles of vegetation within our service territory. Approximately 40% of the territory is set within the Pinelands, which is a state and federally protected area and requires special care. The team is also responsible for the inspection and maintenance of about 250,000 wood electrical poles.

“Our job is to help the line crews do their job to keep the lines clear and the power on,” says Nick Bocchicchio, Atlantic City Electric Staff Forester. “Keeping trees away from power lines, making sure transformers are clear and helping crews get access to remote locations are all priorities.”

The team is comprised of a small group of certified arborists with over

60 years of combined experience. Their primary responsibilities include the management and control of trees, shrubs and other vegetation growing around power transmission and distribution facilities, as well as overseeing the contractor crews who handle much of the work. There are also times when the team works directly with property owners such as when scheduled or emergency work needs to be done.

“We used to be called the Forestry department, but we really do quite a bit more than just pruning and trimming,” says Bocchicchio. “We plan our work in four-year cycles so that each part of our service territory

For more information and updates, visit atlanticcityelectric.com, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/ACElecConnect and Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/AtlanticCityElectric.

Do you have concerns or questions related to your community or constituents? If so, our public affairs managers are available to assist.COUNTY CONTACT EMAIL PHONECumberland, Gloucester, Salem Bert Lopez [email protected] 856-863-7945Atlantic, Burlington, Camden Tom Reilly [email protected] 856-753-2850Atlantic, Ocean Ken Mosca [email protected] 609-645-4802Cape May Ronnie Town [email protected] 609-463-3805 ATLANTIC CITY ELECTRIC NEWS FOR GOVERNMENT, BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS JUNE 2014

COMMUNITY

FOCUS84CP225100 Harding HighwayMays Landing, NJ 08330

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Clean Ocean Action Beach Sweep: In April, Atlantic City Electric volunteers descended upon a stretch of the Atlantic City beach to help pick up trash and debris. The types of debris will be cataloged in an effort to identify the source and help reduce the amount of debris on the beach. This is the first of two beach sweeps that will take place this year.

ACUA Earth Day: In April, Atlantic City Electric employees attended the Atlantic County Utilities Authority Earth Day Festival. Volunteers educated festival goers about conserving energy, protecting the environment, and saving money on their energy bills.

CONTINUING TO SUPPORT OUR COMMUNITIES continued from previous page

Clean Ocean Action Beach Sweep

Nick Bocchicchio, Atlantic City Electric Staff Forester

is inspected and maintained every four years, and we’re always prepared to handle emergency situations. We work with Operations to plan projects and to help make customers aware of field work in their neighborhoods. We knock on doors, alert customers to upcoming work, and help them understand why our work is important.”

Operations

The Operations team is comprised of the line crews and crew supervisors responsible for the maintenance and repair of all of the infrastructure for our nearly 550,000 customers. System reliability depends on the equipment working properly and safely on a consistent basis.

“Much of my day revolves around making sure I have crews out in the field where they need to be and when they need to be there,” says Bill Eppler, Distribution Supervisor, Glassboro Operations. “We are managing a lot of things all at one

time. In one area, we may be doing repair work; in another we may be working on replacing older equipment. We are also out there proactively inspecting our equipment so that we can identify potential reliability and safety problem areas before they become an issue. It’s my job to get everything scheduled and get crews in the field so that we can get the work done as quickly and as safely as possible. We also need to be able to react and change our schedules quickly and efficiently when storms or other events cause outages.”

The Operations team also works closely with the Engineering department to develop work plans for reliability enhancement projects, research and analyze historical system data to prioritize maintenance areas, and to redesign circuits to accommodate increased demand for power.

“A lot of the work we do revolves around

collaborating with other departments to find the best ways to reduce the number of people who might be affected by an outage,” Eppler adds.

Engineering

Designing electrical systems requires a great deal of attention to detail as well as the ability to see the big picture. Both skills are crucial to building reliable power systems that meet the needs of our customers.

“Our main responsibility is to design systems that meet the needs of our customers,” says Bob

Wolcott, Senior Supervising Engineer, Pleasantville District. “We are responding to a number of different company needs including requests for the design of new infrastructure, upgrading existing equipment and providing a system that is sustainable over time. We also take into account contingency planning so that all of our systems have a way to back each other up in the event of an outage.”

Substations are an important part of the system that Bob describes. They are the main hubs where power arrives and voltage levels are maintained for the remainder of its journey to our customers’ meters.

KEYS TO RELIABILITY continued from front page Start Preparing Now for Summer StormsThe summer storm season is now upon us, and we encourage you to prepare now for the next storm. Visit the Atlantic City Electric Storm Center today at atlanticcityelectric.com/home/emergency/ to learn how to prepare for power outages, to view outage maps, and to download our Self-Service app and new Storm Preparation Handbook. With our app, you can report outages or view outage maps on your smartphone or tablet by entering your phone number and zip code or your account number. You also can connect with us on Facebook or Twitter to receive up-to-date storm and restoration information.

You can download the handbook at atlanticcityelectric.com/stormhandbook.

“After it is determined that a substation is needed, Engineering and Planning collaborate on the design with respect to determining current and future needs of that geographical area. Once that has been discussed, other key departments get involved and provide input and insight pertaining to actual details of the design,” explains Alexis Louie, Supervising Engineer, Atlantic City Electric Substations. “New substations must be designed so that they can provide redundancy in case of unexpected outages or maintenance work that needs to occur. This is crucial especially during times of heavy use and during outages. We always try to look five or ten years ahead and anticipate what the need will be in the future. We need to be strategic during all phases of the project.”

Focused On Our Customers

All of the work we do is done collaboratively. Our main objective is to deliver safe and reliable service 24 hours a day, seven days a week for our customers, just as we have been doing in South Jersey for more than 100 years.

DID YOU KNOW?n We serve nearly 550,000

customers in 8 counties

n We manage: • More than 10,000 miles

of distribution lines • More than 1,100 miles

of transmission lines • 89 substations • nearly 250,000 utility

poles

n We’ve invested approximately $685 million into our electric system over the past five years

n We employ nearly 900 people

KEYS TO RELIABILITY continued from previous page

Continuing to Support Our CommunitiesAtlantic City Electric participated in a variety of community activities in the last few months.

March for Babies: In April, Atlantic City Electric volunteers walked through Riverview Beach Park in Pennsville to raise money for the March of Dimes. In the last 10 years, Atlantic City Electric has raised nearly $50,000 for the March of Dimes.

American Heart Walk: In May, approximately 100 Atlantic City Electric employees, friends and family members walked the Ocean City Boardwalk to raise funds for the American Heart Association. The team raised nearly $8,000 to help fund research for heart disease.

Special Olympics: In March, Atlantic City Electric employees volunteered at the Special Olympics’ Olympic Village at the Wildwoods Convention Center. Volunteers assisted the athletes with carnival games such as slides, skee ball and ball tossing.  

CONTINUED ON BACK PAGE

Alexis Louie, Supervising Engineer, Atlantic City Electric Substations

American Heart Walk

Bill Eppler, Distribution Supervisor, Glassboro Operations

Bob Wolcott, Senior Supervising Engineer, Pleasantville District

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