ComEd Updates Downers Grove Residents on Equipment Upgrades, Future Plans

Downers Grove officials say it's too early to determine whether the "significant" equipment upgrades ComEd made this year will have any impact on electrical reliability across the village.

A town hall meeting was held Thursday at the Downers Grove Park District Recreation Center, 4500 Belmont Road, to update residents on ComEd's response the village's 2011 ComEd reliability report. The study—prompted by a series of “unprecedented storms” that swept through the village last year—outlines specific problem areas in the community's electrical service.

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According to the report, Downers Grove had 1,482 power outages between 2007 and 2010, 42 percent of which were caused by equipment problems. Another 34 percent of the problems were the result of weather related issues.

To mitigate the issues, the village presented three recommendations to ComEd:

• Make improvements to the distribution system to reduce outages caused by faulty equipment;

• Increase tree trimming to reduce outages caused by tree contact during severe storms;

• Make improvements to the 10 circuits that have experienced the greatest number of outages and continue to make improvements to the remaining circuits once the top 10 are corrected.

With input from the community, village officials and staff were able to communicate the urgent need for improvements to ComEd's infrastructure in Downers Grove.

Since last year's meeting, ComEd has made significant progress on the proposed improvements, presenting targeted plans for tree trimming and equipment upgrades across the village. In December 2011,  in an infrastructure upgrade, helping improve system performance in the area.

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