Business
Enhanced Electric Service Coming to Homes and Businesses in Lehigh and Berks Counties
A power grid upgrade is underway in southeastern Pennsylvania to enhance electric service for thousands of residents and businesses in Lehigh and Berks counties. The project includes rebuilding a 15-mile stretch of high-voltage power lines and replacing key components at four substations to strengthen the local grid and make outages less common and shorter when they do happen.
About this update from Firstenergy Corp.
[{"type":"text","content":"READING, Pa., Dec. 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A power grid upgrade is underway in southeastern Pennsylvania to enhance electric service for thousands of residents and businesses in Lehigh and Berks counties. The project includes rebuilding a 15-mile stretch of high-voltage power lines and replacing key components at four substations to strengthen the local grid and make outages less common and shorter when they do happen.","length":423,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"image","alt":"As part of this project, dozens of new poles and lines were recently installed along Fleetwood Lyons Road in Richmond Township, Berks County.","displaySize":"","headline":null,"caption":"As part of this project, dozens of new poles and lines were recently installed along Fleetwood Lyons Road in Richmond Township, Berks County.","className":"","disableSlideshowImg":false,"size":{"original":{"width":400,"height":325,"url":"https://media.zenfs.com/en/prnewswire.com/490febf2d71aaf51cee97dba93d2d4cf"},"resized":{"url":"https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/b5ugJhgTH73rI4saa27T.A--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTU3MztjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/prnewswire.com/490febf2d71aaf51cee97dba93d2d4cf","width":400,"height":325}},"href":"https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2847893/lehigh_work.html","hrefExternal":true,"rel":"nofollow"},{"type":"text","content":"Built to Handle What's AheadThe Allentown-Lyons-South Hamburg 69-kilovolt (kV) Line Rebuild Project, led by Mid-Atlantic Interstate Transmission (MAIT), a FirstEnergy Transmission company, will replace aging infrastructure with stronger poles and modern wires that can better withstand severe weather, falling trees and other hazards that commonly cause outages.","length":367,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"The rebuilt line will improve the flow of electricity through the system, making it easier to reroute power during emergencies or maintenance. This improvement will also support ongoing growth in southeast Pennsylvania, where FirstEnergy Pennsylvania Electric Company does business as Met-Ed. Construction on the project began in August and is expected to be completed in November 2027.","length":386,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"Mark Mroczynski, President of Transmission for FirstEnergy: "Reliability is at the heart of everything we do. This project will help ensure that customers acr...