RG&E Completes Circuit Upgrades to Reduce Outages in Webster
Improvements reduce frequent outages and duration for customers in Webster
$3.3M project part of resiliency program investing up to $12M annually to improve reliability across Rochester service area
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — March 20, 2025 — Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E) completed significant upgrades to circuits as part of the Company’s resiliency program that will help improve reliability across the Company’s service area through 2027. These recent improvements will help reduce the frequencies and duration of outages for customers in Webster and allow crews to restore power faster after a significant outage.
“This is an area where customers experienced significant and frequent outages,” said Rod Coffey, project manager for RG&E. “These upgrades will help reduce disruptions to service and improve reliability.”
The project impacts customers along Hard Road, Holt, Shoemaker, Lake, Webster, Philips, and Klem Roads, as well as County Line Road. The upgrades converted 2.2 miles of lines to three-phase overhead 12.47kV. In addition, the project included upgrades of 2.2 miles of lines improved with wire that can deliver more power and use a stronger conductor to better withstand increased weather threats. These improvements provide more reliable power to customers.
The upgraded lines also include supervisory control and data acquisitions or SCADA, which is a technology that remotely isolates a damaged segment of a line in the event of an outage, reducing the number of impacted customers and businesses impacted.
The six-month project was completed in December 2024. It cost $3.3 million, part of RG&E’s Resiliency Program investing approximately $22 million to strengthen the power grid, which will better protect homes and businesses from severe weather threats. Since the Company’s resiliency program began in 2018, 26 circuit projects have been completed. Three more circuit upgrade projects are expected to be completed in 2025.
Media Contact:
Alexis Arnold