REC Restoring the Final 4% of Outages

As of Monday morning, less than 3,800 REC member-owners remain without power as a result of Winter Storm Frida, which dumped more than a foot of heavy wet snow in the majority of REC’s service territory. Vehicles are not able to access many of these locations due the wet conditions and downed trees with the repair crews walking miles to reach the damage.

“We thank all the members so much for being so patient,” said REC Lineman Thomas Bailey, in between making repairs in the Bowling Green area. “It has been a long week and we know our members are extremely frustrated. But we’re not going to stop until everybody’s power is back on.”

Some storm highlights

• At the peak of the storm, more than 98,000 members were without power, meaning REC has restored about 96% of the outages.
• A field work force of 1,200 plus continues to make repairs and restore service. Mutual-aid crews have come from more than 10 different states.
• In many cases, vehicles are unable to reach damage sites. Crews need to walk miles with heavy equipment and climb poles manually rather than using bucket trucks. In some cases, crews continue to work farther down the lines as additional broken poles are being found.
• Nearly 550 separate outage events remain. Some of those events affect only a few members and require most of the day to make repairs and restore service. Near the Louisa County airport, for instance, an outage affecting just two members will require the replacement of nine poles.
• Crews have discovered more than 560 broken poles so far and have replaced more than 330. Those efforts are continuing today, often with the help of heavy equipment