Powering On: Improving Your Service in Southern Ohio

You depend on us to keep the lights on, and we take that responsibility seriously. Our crews are out in your community every day working to improve your electric service. We’ve made great progress, but we know we have more work to do. Here’s an overview of what our teams are doing this year in southern Ohio to keep your power flowing.

Overhead circuit and power line inspections

Our field personnel conduct a visual inspection of overhead equipment every five years. This program is designed to proactively spot and address issues before they create a safety issue or an outage.

This year in southern Ohio, our crews are well on their way to inspecting 30 circuits covering 1,234 miles of power lines.

Underground equipment inspections

Our underground power lines are attached to aboveground equipment. The aboveground portions are inspected on a five-year cycle. Like with the overhead equipment, our teams examine these devices to proactively identify and address issues that could create a safety concern or affect the reliability of your electric service.

We’re inspecting 5,068 pieces of equipment in southern Ohio this year.

Pole inspections and replacements

We inspect our wood poles every 10 years. The inspections may include performing maintenance treatment to extend each pole’s service life and reinforcing them if needed. Our crews also identify and replace poles that are damaged due to age, weather or insects.

For 2024 in southern Ohio, we’re inspecting 9,817 poles and anticipate replacing 57.

Tree trimming

With trees a top cause of power outages, our crews follow a four-year cycle to trim trees and cut brush away from our power lines and equipment. Since we began this program, tree-related outages have decreased by more than 90%.

In 2024, we’ll trim and clear along 1,156 miles of southern Ohio power lines.