REC lineworkers are builders and troubleshooters of the local grid. They set poles, string wire, install transformers and protective equipment, and keep the system safe and reliable every day and in the moments that matter most. When storms hit, they're the ones climbing, switching, testing and repairing in unforgiving conditions, because they can't just wait for better weather to get the lights back on.
With our Cooperative's membership growing by about 4,000 per year, it's REC's lineworkers, doing the tough, hands-on work in the field, who make that growth possible, according to Chief Grid Operations Office Jason Satterwhite. "We're experiencing unprecedented growth, but our lineworkers keep up with the work."
Couple that day-to-day maintenance with the long hours and very real hazards of emergency restoration work, and it becomes clear that linework is no easy task. Those who perform it make significant sacrifices to deliver reliable power to REC's member-owners.
"We ask so much of them and they respond time and time again," said Darrell Potter, senior director—operations and construction for the Blue Ridge District, in the northwest of REC's service territory. "They work around the clock for multiple days, away from their families and in extreme cold and blistering heat. They prioritize public safety and infrastructure. Following storms, lineworkers are the first on the scene to repair downed power lines and broken poles."
The earliest lineworkers built and maintained telegraph and telephone lines, climbing poles and working aloft long before rural electrification brough power to communities across the county, in the 1930s. As electric systems expanded, the craft evolved into a specialized trade that is part construction, part troubleshooting and always safety-first. Linework is built around teamwork, apprenticeship training and precise procedures. Today's lineworkers carry that legacy forward, maintaining an increasingly complex local grid while staying ready to respond when weather, accidents or equipment failures put service at risk.
“REC lineworkers bring consistency, safety and pride in their work every day," Satterwhite said. "We appreciate the sacrifices they make, the standards they hold themselves to and the example they set for our Cooperative.”
