ComEd Improvements Expected to Reduce Outages

Many Glen Ellyn residents  this past year due to frequent power outages. There were so many outages, Glen Ellyn Police officers stopped counting the calls they responded to regarding downed wires and outages. Deputy Police Chief Bill Holmer said he could not estimate how many calls his police officers responded to this past year, "It's way too many," Holmer said. "We have a fairly significant number of power outages." 

Commonwealth Edison officials say recent improvements will curb the frequency and duration of future power outages. ComEd recently installed 3,200 feet of upgraded-underground cable in the areas north of Crescent Boulevard, and east of Highway 53 between Marston Avenue and Dorchester Court. ComEd officials say this cable will improve system performance throughout the Village of Glen Ellyn. 

ComEd acknowledges that many of last year's outages were caused by downed tree limbs landing on overhead electrical wires. To combat this problem, ComEd will continue its tree trimming program for Glen Ellyn, which is set to take place in the first half of 2012. 

These upgrades are part of the implementation of the Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act, which was recently passed by Illinois lawmakers to improve ComEd's electrical grid.  

Glen Ellyn and Wheaton were recently chosen for these upgrades, which ComEd says will ultimatley save customers money. More improvements are on the way for other parts of northern Illinois.