EIA Member Companies on Frontline of Hurricane Relief Efforts in Alabama
Published 10:03 am Tuesday, September 22, 2020
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The Energy Institute of Alabama has played a big role in the Hurricane Sally clean-up efforts on the Gulf Coast.
“These utility companies, and the selfless linemen and crews, have worked around the clock to restore power as quickly and safely as possible to the impacted areas,” EIA Chairman Seth Hammett said in a release.
“We are grateful for their swift response and service in a time of need for south Alabama. EIA would also like to thank utility workers from neighboring states as well as personnel from the Alabama National Guard for their relief efforts.”
Alabama Power Company was in a group of EIA member companies that helped restore power in the state’s southern part.
As of Sunday, Alabama Power Company restored power to 99% of the 680,000 customers that had their power disrupted. They restored over 1,500 spans of power lines and replaced over 400 power poles and over 500 transformers that were damaged during the hurricane. Alabama Power had a storm team over 4,000 utility workers and support personnel from 14 different states.
Alabama’s rural electric cooperatives teamed up to provide crews and relief efforts in the Baldwin EMC service areas most impacted by the hurricane. They had damages to 2,000 broken power poles, 4,160 spans of downed lines and 4,300 trees on power lines.
Electric Cities of Alabama crews restored power to nearly 80% of the more than 56,000 people that had outages due to the severe weather.
The specific public power utilities included: City of Troy Utilities; Cullman Power Board; Decatur Utilities; Dothan Utilities; Guntersville Electric Board; Huntsville Utilities; Municipal Utilities Board of Albertville; Opelika Power Services; Russellville Electric Board; Scottsboro Electric Power Board; Utilities Board of Andalusia and the Utilities Board of Tuskegee.
“When natural disasters strike, utility workers and crews are often the first responders, working to quickly and safely restore power and assisting the clean-up efforts,” said EIA Vice-Chairman Houston Smith of the Alabama Power Company. “We are committed to a full-recovery and remain incredibly thankful for these heroes who have come to assist on the coast.”