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Utilities look to replace line crews

FAIRMONT, W.Va. — One of the state’s largest utilities is hoping to fill pending vacancies in part through the state’s community and technical college system.

Mon Power and its sister company in the eastern panhandle, Potomac Edison Power, are looking for people to work on line crews because many are retiring according to companies’ spokesperson Todd Meyers.

“It’s very important to get new blood in the door because so much skill and so much expertise and institutional knowledge is on its way out,” Meyers said. “So what we need to do is get new employees and get them under the wings of our present employees who do a great job so they can teach them the ropes.”

Mon Power is beginning to benefit from students in the Power Systems Institute at Pierpont Community and Technical College in Fairmont. It recently hired eight new line and substation workers. The challenge of replacing workers isn’t isolated to Mon Power or Potomac Edison, Meyers said.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, California, you name it. The utility workers in this country are moving towards retirement.” Meyers said.

In the Power Systems Institute, students spend half of their week taking classes at Pierpont and the other half at Mon Power’s training facility in Marion County. Myers said the program has proved beneficial.

“The very heart of our operation, both in Mon Power’s service area and Potomac Edison in the eastern panhandle, it comes down to the people,” he said.

.For information about how to enroll in the Power Systems Institute program, call 1-800-829-6801, or go to www.firstenergycorp.com/psi.





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