No doubt, mutual aid is a major strength of public power.
We’ve seen it up close as crews across the ElectriCities membership have worked together over the past few weeks to restore power after Hurricane Helene’s devastation. And we’re seeing it as crews head further south to help with restoration and recovery from Hurricane Milton.
“We’re in the midst of wrapping up one and heading into another,” said Craig Batchelor, Manager of Safety & Training at ElectriCities.
But whatever the storm, public power providers in our region show up big time.
At the peak of outages from Helene, about 46,000 public power customers in North Carolina were without electricity. After five days, crews had reduced that number to about 10,600. Six days later, major restoration efforts in our North Carolina member communities were complete.
That’s thanks to huge efforts from people across our membership who worked together—those who requested help on behalf of their customers and those who provided help by sending crews, equipment, and materials.
A heartfelt thank you to:
Communities that Provided Mutual Aid
Albemarle
Apex
Clayton
Concord
Fayetteville PWC
Gastonia
Greenville Utilities Commission
High Point
Kinston
Lexington
Lumberton
Monroe
New Bern
Newton
Rocky Mount
Statesville
Tarboro
Wake Forest
Washington
Wilson Energy
Communities that Received Mutual Aid
Abbeville, S.C.
Bostic
Cherryville
Drexel
Easley, S.C.
Forest City
Greenwood, S.C.
Kings Mountain
Laurens, S.C.
Morganton
New River Light & Power (Boone)
Newberry, S.C.
Prosperity, S.C.
Shelby
As you might imagine, working through disasters like this takes an all-hands-on-deck effort by ElectriCities’ Safety & Training team as well.
Nick Whitley, Mutual Aid Coordinator and Supervisor of Safety & Training at ElectriCities, said as some of their team members accompanied members to provide support and safety oversight, others stepped in to ensure scheduled lineworker training classes could continue.
“Just like any good line crew, we work together to do what needs to be done to support our community,” he said.
We can’t thank everyone enough for coming together to show the strength of public power in action. From the lineworkers, customer service representatives, and other utility staff, to first responders and neighbors near and far, thank you for your hard work and dedication to keeping the lights on.