February 15, 2022

For the 16th consecutive year, FirstEnergy earned recognition for its emergency response efforts from the Edison Electric Institute (EEI). The company earned both the “Emergency Recovery Award” for safely and efficiently restoring service to our customers following the remnants of Hurricane Ida in September 2021 and the “Emergency Assistance Award” for helping Entergy with restoration efforts in Louisiana following the hurricane.

“Whether helping our own customers or providing assistance to other utilities, we used our well-tested and practiced restoration expertise to safely restore power from Hurricane Ida – one of the most powerful storms on record,” said Sam Belcher, senior vice president, Operations. “Crews from all 10 FirstEnergy utilities worked safely around the clock, overcoming challenging weather, impassable roads and other hazardous conditions to be there when our customers needed us the most.”

On Aug. 29, 2021, category 4 Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana with maximum sustained winds exceeding 150 mph and a 12-foot storm surge. The storm then raced northeast, and its powerful remnants brought heavy rain, tornadoes and damaging winds to multiple states on Sept. 1. More than 175,000 FirstEnergy customers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey lost power from the storm. Utilizing its Emergency Response Plan, FirstEnergy personnel worked safely to minimize the outage time for customers, ultimately replacing 217 poles, 125 transformers and over 21 miles of wire.

More than 525 FirstEnergy line workers, forestry crews and support personnel also were deployed to some of the most damaged areas in Louisiana to help restore power to more than a million Entergy customers impacted by the storm. FirstEnergy is a member of multiple electric utility mutual-assistance groups that work cooperatively to restore service to customers when a natural disaster causes large-scale power outages.

“This past year brought several significant storms and other extreme weather-related events that impacted many customers and communities across the nation,” said EEI President Tom Kuhn. “FirstEnergy and its employees worked around the clock following Hurricane Ida to ensure that power was restored safely and as quickly as possible. I applaud FirstEnergy and its employees for their unwavering dedication to the customers and to the communities they so proudly serve, and I am honored to present them with this well-deserved award.”

EEI presents awards twice annually to member companies to recognize extraordinary efforts to restore power or for assisting other electric companies after service disruptions caused by weather conditions and other natural events. Winners are chosen by a panel of independent judges following an international nomination process.