EMCs Restore Power to More than 300,000

TUCKER, Ga. – As of 10 a.m., the electric membership cooperatives (EMCs) of Georgia have restored electricity to more than 300,000 customers since late Monday/early Tuesday. Outages peaked at 550,000 following Tropical Storm Irma which battered the state for more than six hours.

Unlike storms in recent years, Irma affected all 41 EMCs in Georgia and left no region or area untouched. Some EMCs saw damage to as much as 90 percent of their service territory, and crews are working steadily to address the 218,000 remaining outages across the state.

To rebuild their distribution networks, EMCs are directing a massive restoration effort with more than 4,500 linemen and contract crews plus hundreds of support personnel helping with logistics and supply chain for poles, transformers, wire, etc. and other support services.

At this time, 14 states are providing assistance including Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. That number could grow in the days ahead.

In the field, line workers are seeing an unprecedented level of damage following Irma which generated Georgia’s first-ever statewide tropical storm warning. For this reason, restoration for some EMCs will span several more days despite the contingent of 4,500 linemen dedicated to this effort. The damage is just too severe and widespread.

Consequently, members may want to consider making alternate arrangements if necessary and to follow their local EMC outage updates provided in newspapers, TV and radio, social media and EMC web sites to get the latest on progress in their area.

Georgia EMC is the statewide trade association representing the state’s 41 EMCs, Oglethorpe Power Corp., Georgia Transmission Corp. and Georgia System Operations Corp. Collectively, Georgia’s customer-owned EMCs provide electricity and related services to 4.4 million people, half of Georgia’s population, across 73 percent of the state’s land area.

Note: Another update will be provided at 3 p.m. today. Meanwhile, for the latest outage information, go to https://georgiaemc.com/storm-center/current-outages.

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