MAYS LANDING Atlantic City Electric has provided more than 15,000 trees for planting in customers' yards during the past decade, thanks to a partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation. Including the trees that will be distributed as part of this year's program, Atlantic City Electric and its sister Exelon utilities BGE, ComEd, Delmarva Power, PECO and Pepco will have collectively provided customers more than 125,000 trees for planting, which provide direct environmental and energy efficiency benefits.
Trees are distributed through the Arbor Day Foundation's Energy-Saving Trees program, which helps energy service providers offer free trees to their customers. The trees distributed through 2021 by the Exelon utilities are expected to absorb 1.6 million pounds of air pollutants, sequester more than 479 million pounds of carbon, save more than 185 million kilowatts of energy and provide more than $57 million in combined energy and community benefits.
"Atlantic City Electric is honored to celebrate more than 10 years of partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation, Atlantic City Electric Region President Doug Mokoid said. The Energy-Saving Trees program provides important environmental and costs saving benefits for our customers in South Jersey, while enhancing the natural beauty of homes and neighborhoods.
"Companies and service providers who take part in Energy Saving Trees truly understand the value trees have in a community," said Dan Lambe, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. "We're so thrilled to have a longstanding partnership with a utility service provider like Atlantic City Electric. The Arbor Day Foundation is proud to be a part of Atlantic City Electric's climate action plan and is fortunate to continue planting trees with them over the years to come."
This year, Atlantic City Electric is providing 900 trees to residential customers. Customers can choose from several species, including bald cypress, river birch, Eastern redbud, red maple, and white dogwood. The one-gallon trees will be delivered via mail by the end of May.
To reserve a tree, visit arborday.org/ace or call 855-670-2773. Before planting a tree, Atlantic City Electric reminds customers to know what's below and call 811 to have utility-owned underground lines marked before digging and look up before planting to prevent trees from growing into electrictal or other utility service lines.
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Atlantic City Electric has also been a Tree Line USA member for the last 20 years. Tree Line USA is a partnership between the Arbor Day Foundation and the National Association of State Foresters that recognizes public and private utilities for pursuing best practices that protect and cultivate America's urban tree canopy. Atlantic City Electric aims to be a sustainable utility service provider in the New Jersey area by combatting climate change and building community resilience.
Learn more about urban planting work done by the Arbor Day Foundation here: www.arborday.org
