RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina’s electric cooperatives’ crews have worked tirelessly to restore outages resulting from winter weather. Outages now stand at 8,900, down from 20,600 earlier today. The majority of the remaining outages are located in Columbus, Pender and Bladen counties, the result of broken poles, downed wires and branches on power lines. The cooperatives appreciate the patience being shown by their members.
Cooperative crews are out in force working to restore electricity as quickly and safely as possible. Twelve North Carolina co-ops are sending line crews to aid fellow cooperatives in the state with power restoration efforts. The deployment of crews is part of a mutual-aid agreement shared between the nation’s nearly 1,000 electric cooperatives to help one another in times of emergency.
Electric cooperative officials remind people to always stay away from downed or low-hanging power lines. Always treat power lines as if they are energized and potentially deadly. If you see a fallen power line, stay away and call your local cooperative or 911.
A list of outage reporting numbers for each of North Carolina’s 26 electric cooperatives can be found at www.ncelectriccooperatives.com/co-ops/coopList.htm.
North Carolina’s electric cooperatives serve more than 2.5 million people in 93 of the state’s 100 counties.