Electric Membership Cooperatives (EMCs) Enter Latter Stages of Restoration

TUCKER, Ga., Feb. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Since 5 a.m. today, EMCs have restored power to 9,600 customers in heavily damaged parts of northeast Georgia where ice still clings to trees and power lines.

At 2:30 p.m., 12,400 customers remain without power, down from 134,000 at the height of the storm. EMCs estimate the majority of outages will be restored by midnight. However, some will take longer based upon the extent of damage and due to widespread and remote locations.

The job of power restoration has been especially challenging for EMCs since they serve large land areas and difficult terrains. Each averages 10 consumers per mile of line compared with investor-owned utilities which average 34 customers per mile of line and publicly owned utilities, or municipals, with an average of 48 consumers per mile. As a result, EMC crews can work for hours to repair or rebuild a mile of line and restore service to a handful of customers.

Knowing their unique challenges, the electric co-ops have called upon every available resource at their respective EMCs plus hundreds of EMC line workers from across the state, private contract crews, additional right-of-way crews, and crews from Virginia, Alabama and Florida.

Damage from thick layers of ice on trees and power lines has been most severe in Forsyth, Hall, Gwinnett, Lumpkin, Dawson, Cherokee, Jackson, Banks, Barrow, Habersham and White counties. The public should be especially careful of areas where line trucks and utility vehicles are working and stay clear of roadways.

Georgia EMC is the statewide trade association representing the state's 41 EMCs, Oglethorpe Power Corp., Georgia Transmission Corp. and Georgia System Operations Corp.  Collectively, Georgia's customer-owned EMCs provide electricity and related services to 4.4 million people, half of Georgia's population, across 73 percent of the state's land area.

SOURCE Georgia EMC

Related Links

http://www.georgiaemc.com