With more than 1.3 million customers affected by electricity outages last year and the majority of those outages caused by storms, state utility regulators are advising utility companies to increase tree-trimming and infrastructure replacement projects.

In an annual report released Tuesday the state regulators, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, found that major outages for electricity providers across Pennsylvania spiked from 20 in 2016 to 50 last year.

The PUC noted that the 50 major outages last year was the highest ever recorded in the state.

West Penn Power — which has a service area of about 10,400 square miles and about 710,000 customers in 24 Pennsylvania counties, including Butler County — had 11 major outages in 2017, the most of any Pennsylvania electric utility according to the PUC report.

Those outages were all the result of storms or inclimate weather, according to the report. The most frequent cause cited was storms with high winds taking down trees, which subsequently take down power lines.

In response, the PUC urged West Penn Power and utilities across the state to step up tree trimming and infrastructure improvement projects.

“If more frequent, severe storms are considered the new norm, then a more aggressive approach to tree trimming will be necessary to reduce tree outages in the future,” the report concludes, in part.