5 days Ago By Kellen Stepler
Duquesne Light officials plan for infrastructure improvements for electrical service in a problematic section of Collier to be complete by the fall. Company spokeswoman Alyssa Battaglia said Duquesne Light sent letters to customers in the Rennerdale section of Collier to update them to increased reliability in the area. Those area residents in February petitioned the company to improve its service there.
There were four outages reported between December and February, affecting 400 customers at a time. Battaglia said the cause of those outages stemmed from trees interfering with Duquesne Light facilities and equipment. “We proactively manage vegetation within the fullest extent of our right of way, but many outages experienced in this particular area have been caused by trees outside of that right of way,” she said.
“While scheduled maintenance on the specific circuit is scheduled for 2026, we are accelerating the normal maintenance cycle to complete the work in 2025.” The company in April kicked off its vegetation management season and plans to maintain approximately 38,000 trees along 1,300 miles of power lines in Allegheny and Beaver counties. The company also launched a Referral Network Program to connect customers with others to help remove unwanted wood from their property.
Customers can complete an online form on Duquesne Light’s website, or email [email protected] to request assistance. In Collier, Battaglia said, Duquesne Light also plans to create additional paths for power to be rerouted in the event of trouble in the system.
“This will limit both the number of our customers impacted by an outage in the area and, in most cases, allow customers who experience an outage to be restored more quickly,” she said. “It is expected that these infrastructure improvements will be completed by fall of this year. “While (Duquesne Light) can’t guarantee that the customers won’t be affected by outages in the future, we are actively working on these improvements to provide the area with improved reliability now and in the future.
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