As of 9 a.m., REC had restored service to 90% of member-owners who lost power during Wednesday’s winter storm.
To speed up the restoration process, REC increased its work force in the field, bringing in 32 mutual aid crews totaling over 130 line workers from neighboring electric cooperatives and contractors. Working through the night, crews restored electricity to more than 5,300 REC members.
At the peak of the storm, more than 21,000 members were without service. About 2,000 remain without power this morning. At least 170 separate outage events remain. That number will likely rise and fall throughout the day as larger events are cleared and smaller events are identified.
The remaining outages include some of the more difficult repairs, and those repairs often only restore service to relatively small numbers of members.
In addition to downed trees and power lines, so far we have found 40 broken poles across the damaged areas. In the Culpeper region, as of this morning crews identified about 16 poles that still need to be replaced, several of which will require track machines to access. Each pole replacement can take several hours.
Despite challenging ground conditions that often make accessing damage difficult, REC expects most remaining outages will be restored by late tonight. Some isolated events could linger into Saturday.
Crews continue to follow the health and safety social distancing guidelines to protect against the spread of Covid-19.
Among the cooperatives providing mutual aid are Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative, Prince George Electric Cooperative, Northern Neck Electric Cooperative, Choptank Electric Cooperative and BARC Electric Cooperative.
“REC’s crews and contractors are some of the most hardworking and dedicated in the industry. We are grateful for the efforts they have made and the impact it has had on restoring power to members,” said Casey Hollins, director of communications and public relations. “We also appreciate the patience and the understanding of our member-owners as the line workers continue to make difficult repairs and restore the final outages.”
