PRINCETON AREA SERVICE


MEETING GROWTH NEEDS AND IMPROVING RELIABILITY IN THE PRINCETON AREA


While the Princeton area continues to experience rapid growth, Oncor remains fully committed to meeting the needs of these communities and providing safe, affordable and reliable service. Multiple projects have been recently completed or are currently underway to help support continued growth and service reliability. Additional planning is also ongoing for upcoming long term reliability improvement projects.

 

More information on ongoing work and future updates will be available on this webpage for Princeton area customers and representatives. Individuals with questions on Princeton area service, growth preparations or reliability improvements can contact Oncor at PrincetonAreaService@Oncor.com.

 

Information on Recent Power Outages

We recognize power interruptions for any reason can lead to frustration and difficulties for customers, and we strive to restore all outages as quickly and safely as possible. The increased amount of outages in the Princeton area this year have primarily been due to:

  • An active spring storm season, which led to higher weather-related outage events across Oncor’s service area from March through May;
  • Vegetation on or near power lines, which is being addressed through nearly-completed extensive tree trimming; and
  • Highly sensitive protective devices used during recent construction that serves to de-energize power lines should a potential electrical contact be detected. This construction work was completed in June, which removed the need for such a high level of device sensitivity and ceased resulting outage impacts.

 

Other notable outage causes have been vehicle accidents, construction not associated with Oncor projects, and additional severe weather.

 

 

Infrastructure and Equipment Upgrades

As of June 2022, Oncor has completed significant upgrades and replacements for the majority of the circuit serving Princeton and the surrounding area heading south to the edge of the peninsula.

 

In order to harden facilities and increase capacity to serve this developing area, Oncor has rebuilt the main line feeder circuits in the peninsula area, including upgrading approximately 17 miles of lines and replacing or installing over 500 poles in this area within the past two years.

princeton reliability project current state under construction
Princeton VM map

Vegetation Management

Oncor has increased its local vegetation management activities, with the objective of comprehensively trimming the lines serving the area. Since this work began in early 2022, a tremendous amount of vegetation that was near our service facilities has been removed. We expect the remaining vegetation management work to be completed by the end of September 2022.

 

Prior to vegetation management work being performed, Oncor will contact the affected area homes and businesses and leave a door card alerting customers of our work. The door card also includes a phone number (1-800-518-2375) that customers can call if they have questions or concerns. Certified arborists work with our crews and can address customer questions. Our customer FAQ on tree pruning can be found here.

Long-Term Planning 

Oncor has a plan to install a new substation on the peninsula at the Northeast corner of Myrick Ln & S. 2nd St in 2024, which will further strengthen local facilities and provide capacity for future growth.

 

Electrical service in the Princeton area is currently provided from neighboring cities by long distribution feeders. The longer a distribution feeder is, the more exposure it has to outages. A new local station will eliminate the reliability risks of long feeders by placing a power source directly in the area of need. More information on the substation construction process will be available in the coming months.

 

Contact Information

Individuals with questions on Princeton area service, growth preparations or reliability improvements can contact Oncor at PrincetonAreaService@Oncor.com.

 

If you are experiencing a current power outage, please report it by visiting Oncor.com, using the MyOncor app, texting “OUT" to 66267 or by calling 888.313.4747.