Electric Grid Enhancements Completed in the Mahoning Valley

Work will help prevent or minimize the impact of outages for 1,500 FirstEnergy customers

AKRON, Ohio, May 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- American Transmission Systems, Inc. (ATSI), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), has installed approximately 250 new insulators along a 22-mile section of a transmission line that runs through Mahoning and Columbiana counties in northeast Ohio. The new equipment will help ensure the electric grid remains reliable and resilient for approximately 1,500 Ohio Edison customers in the Mahoning Valley.

New horizontal post insulators were installed on the 69-kilovolt transmission line, which runs southwest from a substation in Boardman Township to a substation in Salem. Insulators separate high-voltage transmission lines from their grounded support towers and help maintain the safe and consistent delivery of power. The new insulators attach directly to the poles and eliminate the need for crossarms, which were removed.

Work to replace the insulators began in August 2022 and was completed in March. Several poles were also replaced as part of the $5 million project.

Carl Bridenbaugh, FirstEnergy's Vice President of Transmission: "This new, upgraded equipment will help prevent potential outages and ensure that our transmission system continues to serve customers safely and reliably in the future."

The project is part of Energize365, a multi-year grid evolution program focused on transmission and distribution investments that will deliver the power FirstEnergy's customers depend on today while also meeting the challenges of tomorrow. With planned investments of $26 billion between 2024 and 2028, the program will create a smarter, more secure grid that will meet and exceed reliability targets and accommodate electric vehicles, the electrification of homes and businesses and clean energy sources.

FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its electric distribution companies form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. The company's transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Follow FirstEnergy online at www.firstenergycorp.com and on X, formerly known as Twitter, @FirstEnergyCorp.

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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.