April is National Safe Digging Month, and Atlantic City Electric reminds residents, businesses and contractors that safe digging must remain a priority to prevent damage to critical underground energy infrastructure and keep communities safe.
The electric company has nearly 3,150 miles of underground electric lines, and other essential utilities include water and sewer pipes and buried cable lines. In 2025, company teams responded to 95 incidents of unsafe digging practices.
Before starting any digging projects, residents and businesses should follow these tips and visit Call 811.com for more information.
- – Call 811 before digging, regardless of the project, to allow for approximate locations of underground lines to be marked.
- – Plan ahead and leave ample time. Call three business days in advance at minimum for the utility lines to be marked.
- – Confirm that all local utilities have lines marked accordingly.
- – Consider moving the location of your project if it’s too close to utility line markings.
- – If a contractor has been hired, confirm that the contractor has called 811. Do not let work begin if lines have not been marked.
Once the lines are marked, a guide to understand color codes of markings is available:
- Red: Electric, Cables Conduit, Lighting Cables
- Yellow: Natural Gas, Oil, Steam, Petroleum
- Orange: Communication, Phone, Cable, Fiber Optic
- Blue: Water
- Green: Sewer
- Purple: Reclaimed Water
- White: Proposed evacuation
- Pink: Temporary survey marking
A recent survey by the Common Ground Alliance, a national organization focused on underground utility safety, highlights the importance of calling 811. According to the national survey, 10 million Americans planning digging projects in the next year will not contact 811, putting themselves and their communities at risk of utility service disruptions, costly fines and repairs, and even serious injury or death.
Atlantic City Electric joins the Exelon family of companies, 1,700 Common Ground Alliance members, the U.S. Department of Transportation and governors across the country in marking April as National Safe Digging Month to bring attention to the issue of underground utility line safety and reduce the risk of unnecessary infrastructure damage.
For more information about safe digging practices, visit atlanticcityelectric.com/Safety or call (800) 642-3780.
