Up & Coming Weekly

August 2010 • Do You Think Someone is Stealing Electricity or Water? Utility theft hurts all customers with increasing costs and it can lead to property damage, personal injury and in extreme cases death. Utility theft is a crime! PWC needs your help in report- ing suspected theft. Remember the information that you provide is completely anonymous. If you would like to speak with one of our investigators in person, or leave a message on our Theft Hotline, please call 223-4088. Thank you for joining the fight against utility theft! PWC on the Air Join host, Wendy Riddle, for PWC Connections airing on Time Warner Community Channels 7 and 60 on Tuesdays. Ch. 7 - August 10, 24 - 8 pm Ch. 60 - August 10, 17, 24, 31 - 10 am and 4 pm Learn about: • PWC’s Summer Intern Program • Educators in Business • How to prepare for emergencies PWC is proud to continue its designation as a Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3) for providing its customers with the highest degree of reliable and safe electric service, making your PWC electric services a great value. 2 UCW AUGUST 4-10, 2010 Customer Service - Now Located at 955 Old Wilmington Road Telephone Service 483-1382 Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 8:00 pm, excluding holidays We’re On It! 1-877-OUR-PWC1 24-Hour Emergency Visit Us Online Pay the easy way at: www.faypwc.com WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Dedicated to Providing Reliable Electric Service In early 2010, PWC underwent an audit of our electric system by the Southeastern Electric Reliability Council (SERC) and was found to be 100 percent compliant in all areas. SERC is the enforcement agency that monitors electric utilities to ensure that reliability of the electric grid is maintained. They enforce standards and regulations put in place by the federal government following the Blackout in the Northeast United States in August 2003. During the audit, SERC reviewed PWC policies, procedures and records to ensure PWC met these federal standards. The audit covered PWC’s high voltage transmission facilities and included a review of PWC substations, maintenance procedures, and tree trimming. The results of this review re-affirm PWC’s designation as a Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3 ) for providing its customers with the highest degree of reliable and safe electric service, making your PWC electric services a great value. But What Happens if the Power Does Go Out? When a major power outage happens, we all want to know when power will be restored. If a storm hits and we experience utility outages, PWC will work around the clock to restore power or water services as quickly as possible to all our customers. Our goal is to restore services safely to the greatest number of customers in the shortest time possible. Under our power restoration plan, organizations that provide essential services do get priority. These include hospitals, any facilities used as disaster shelters, and public safety facilities including fire and police stations. The next step is to check for damage at our Substations - where the voltage is reduced to a level safe for distribution. Each local substation serves several thousand customers, so repairing damage here may restore power to a large number of people. We then proceed to repair any damage in the Customer Distribution System, which includes: Main “Feeder” Lines, “Lateral” or “Tap” Lines and Service Lines. Repairing the Customer Distribution System is based on safety concerns and restoring power to the greatest number of people. In general, we repair the main feeder lines first, followed by the lateral and service lines. If your power outage is caused by damage between the line to your home and the service installation, it is the customer’s responsibility to have an electrician repair the damage before PWC can restore power. To report an outage - call 1-877-OUR-PWC1

• Cover