EMCs Making Tremendous Progress on Power Restoration

TUCKER, Ga. – As of 5 a.m., EMCs are reporting 236,000 customers without power, down from a peak of 550,000 outages on Monday night. At this time, EMCs are directing a massive restoration effort of more than 4,000 personnel, including 1,000 workers from out of state.

Since Monday, EMCs have worked in tough conditions to replace spans of downed power lines, hundreds of destroyed power poles and other equipment. The number of states providing EMC and contract crews has grown to 14 thus far and includes Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. They are working side-by-side with local EMCs to make outage repairs as quickly as safety practices allow.

Tropical Storm Irma brought six hours of 30 mph winds, with gusts of more than 60 mph, causing unprecedented damage and outages in every corner of the state. As a result, restoration will span several more days despite the finest efforts of local crews and others from across the country.

Members may want to consider making alternate plans if necessary and follow updates from their local EMC 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 10 a.m. today. Meanwhile, for the latest outage information, go to https://georgiaemc.com/storm-center/current-outages.

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