Duncannon leaders push ARC grant applications after repeated electric outages and aging municipal grid

Representatives from Duncannon and Perry County told the Picture Perry work group that Duncannon's municipal electric grid is aging and has left the borough without power for extended periods when poles are struck or equipment fails.

A Duncannon participant described the system's fragility: "It just explodes," and said the borough wants to install a switch on the far end of the line so power can be rerouted when outages occur. That change, officials said, would reduce the risk of multi-day outages for residents and businesses.

Speakers said they are coordinating with grant writers and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to assemble a package for funding grid improvements, and they asked meeting participants to provide letters of support. A participant warned that asking PPL to extend service capacity into business parks can require very large one-time payments; the transcript records an estimate: "you just have to pay for that, and that was, like, $18,000,000." The meeting noted the distinction that PPL infrastructure and municipal-owned systems interact, and some improvements fall to the borough while upstream capacity can carry high costs.

County officials framed electric-system reliability as a prerequisite for attracting or retaining employers and large projects such as data centers or indoor sports complexes. Work group participants agreed to help identify who should sign support letters for ARC and other grants and to plug successful projects into the Picture Perry amendment cycle so they are visible to potential funders.

There was no formal vote; speakers instead agreed to collect support letters and revise grant language with professional grant writers before submission.