Outsourcing T&D Infrastructure Projects - FirstEnergy Corporation

The overall load growth rate within FirstEnergy's customer base is - 2% per year, but high growth pockets exist. In the mid 1990's there was sufficient excess electrical capacity, but this situation is not the case today. FirstEnergy's engineering and construction resources have both been impacted by attrition (mostly retirements) and down sizing in the past. Four to five years ago, as needs began to outstrip resources, FirstEnergy turned to outsourcing to meet its new infrastructure needs. Their initial outsourcing approach had mixed results so FirstEnergy adopted an EPC outsourcing approach. FirstEnergy has found that there is value in proceeding with the EPC approach with a small number of firms that have a track record of performance and that are willing to make the investment to keep a FirstEnergy team together