PATTON TOWNSHIP — Frequent power outages this year have sparked frustration among many local residents, and West Penn Power officials say they are working on long-term solutions while acknowledging the inconvenience customers have faced.
The line serving Shadow Lane in Patton Township has experienced nine outages so far in 2025. Two were planned, short interruptions to allow for routine maintenance. One lasted just two minutes and affected 14 customers, while another cut service to 30 customers for six minutes, according to West Penn Power.
But unplanned outages have been more disruptive. The most significant occurred April 29, when a powerful windstorm swept across western and central Pennsylvania. About 1,300 customers in the area lost power, some for multiple days. Company officials said the outage was caused when trees outside the utility’s right-of-way toppled onto poles and wires, disabling the substation feeding the area.
“That storm was one of our worst on record,” West Penn Power Spokesman Todd Meyers said in an email to The Centre County Gazette, noting that about 430,000 FirstEnergy customers statewide — nearly 20 percent of its customer base — lost power that day.
Three other outages this year remain unexplained. Crews restored service by resetting equipment in the field but found no visible damage. According to West Penn Power, fuses can sometimes trip when a falling branch or object brushes a line without leaving lasting harm.
The remaining outages were linked to problems with underground cables, affecting about 100 customers. Utility officials explained that water, road salt and soil corrosion can damage buried wires over time. Crews locate the breaks using special equipment, dig up the line and splice in new sections, but aging cables with repeated splices are candidates for full replacement.
West Penn Power stressed that reliability remains a top priority.
“We understand how inconvenient it can be for our customers to be without power,” Meyers said.
To address the issue, FirstEnergy Pennsylvania has launched a $1.4 billion Long-Term Infrastructure Improvement Plan (LTIIP III) that runs through 2029. The program, approved by the state Public Utility Commission, will fund projects designed to modernize the grid, reduce outage frequency and shorten restoration times.
Planned upgrades include replacing aging underground cables, installing automated reclosers and switches, and reinforcing overhead lines and substations. Since 2019, areas where similar work has been completed have seen a 14 percent drop in annual outage frequency.
For the Shadow Lane area, underground cable replacement is under consideration, though no firm project has been scheduled yet. With more replacement work than can be completed in five years, the company says it will prioritize the most critical areas first and continue in future phases.
