County’s growth energizes West Penn Power official
About three minutes into his presentation, John Rea said something electric about Washington County.
“It’s a very busy area. It’s a growth area for us,” said the regional president of West Penn Power, the featured speaker of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce’s Breakfast Briefing on Thursday morning.
West Penn Power, a FirstEnergy Corp. company based in Greensburg, serves 720,000 customers in the western half of Pennsylvania. More than 108,000 of them reside in Washington County, which – according to Rea – benefits from having the Interstate 79 and 70 corridors and being near Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh International Airport.
“It’s a primary area for businesses,” he said.
Rea is a 40-year employee of FirstEnergy, a publicly traded company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. He moved from Penelec to West Penn about a year and a half ago. West Penn no longer does power generation, serving as a distribution and transmission company covering 10,000 square miles in Western Pennsylvania.
“It’s a matter of moving power from where it’s generated to customers,” said Rea, who moved to Latrobe at a tumultuous time – the week of March 15, when the pandemic began to hit the state hard.
He said the company transports a mix of nuclear, wind and solar energy and fossil fuels. “Obviously, the mix will change over the years.”
At a time of higher unemployment, fueled by the pandemic, Rea pointed out that FirstEnergy has a job-training program that prepares would-be line and substation workers. It’s called the Power Systems Institute, which in the West Penn region partners with Westmoreland County Community College in Youngwood and Pennsylvania Highlands Community College in Johnstown. West Penn hires graduates.
Rea wrapped up with a response to a question about community outreach. He said West Penn Power presented $75,000 to Washington County nonprofits in 2019, and while the 2020 figure will decline to about $45,000, it will remain 10% of the company’s outlay.
“United Way and food banks are where we have more of a focus now,” he said.