To improve reliability of electric service to its customers, Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. is renovating a major high-voltage power line that runs from its Susquehanna nuclear power plant near Berwick to the northern suburbs of Allentown.

Work begins this week and will continue, on days when the weather permits, throughout the summer. No PP&L customer will have electrical service interrupted because of this power line work.

"We are upgrading an important bulk power supply line, which is about 20 years old. When the maintenance project is completed, the power line will be upgraded to meet today's standards for service reliability to benefit our customers," said Robert M. Geneczko, PP&L's vice president for Electrical Systems.

The 500,000-volt power line carries electricity from PP&L's largest generating station, the Susquehanna nuclear power plant, for distribution to PP&L customers.

Work will be done by helicopter. As the helicopter hovers over the power line, experienced power line workers will make the needed renovations from an attached platform. The power line will be in service throughout the project.

The project will begin at PP&L's Siegfried substation in Northampton County and follow the power line north across Blue Mountain and through Carbon and Luzerne counties to the Susquehanna nuclear power plant.