Hurricane Idalia: Tracking the Electric Co-op Response - National Rural Electric Cooperative Association

Hurricane Idalia: Tracking the Electric Co-op Response - America's Electric Cooperatives

Updated: Sept. 1, 9 a.m. ET

Two days after Hurricane Idalia swept through the Southeast, electric cooperatives are working to address 97,000 remaining power outages with mutual aid help from more than 1,700 co-op employees and contractors from several states.

The Category 3 hurricane made landfall 22 miles west of Perry, Florida, on Wednesday morning. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, more than 240,000 co-op-served meters in Florida and Georgia were out of service.

In Florida, Madison-based Tri-County Electric Cooperative and Live Oak-based Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative are facing the most extensive restoration process.

TCEC’s 20,000-meter system was knocked completely offline by high winds and flooding, and crews have been rebuilding distribution lines where roads have been cleared and rights of way are accessible.

“We are prioritizing restoration of the large 3-phase feeders serving our critical load locations such as schools and shelters,” said Kaitlynn Culpepper, the co-op’s community relations director.

Restoration of investor-owned transmission serving the co-op’s system continues, and as those lines are repaired, the co-op has been able to re-energize substations serving some of its communities, said Culpepper. “This will allow for power to be restored as repairs are completed to our infrastructure.”

The co-op is working to restore power to essential services, including water and sewer systems, interstate interchanges, gas stations and convenience stores. That’s helping members locate food and fuel and support recovery operations, Culpepper said.

TCEC has told members that complete restoration could take at least two weeks, but members in some areas could have power sooner as repairs are completed in their neighborhoods.

“With some of our substations now restored, we will soon be able to determine estimated restoration times for portions of our service territory,” Culpepper said.

SVEC is rebuilding much of its 28,000-meter system, shredded by Idalia’s 125-mph winds. With over 4,100 miles of distribution lines, co-op crews from Florida and Alabama arrived Thursday to help with the work.

“Electric cooperatives have a long history of helping each other restore power after storms,” says SVEC CEO Mike McWaters. “We are very fortunate to be part of such a strong mutual aid network.”

Feeder line repair work and debris removal under way in accessible areas of the co-op’s territory will allow service to be restored as substations are re-energized. About 1,500 meters have been restored, and nearly 300 line technicians and tree removal personnel are working in SVEC’s territory.

Keystone Heights-based Clay Electric Cooperative has made substantial progress after 30,000 of its 180,000 members lost power Wednesday, and the co-op expects most remaining repairs to be completed this weekend.

Central Florida Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Chiefland, reported 25,000 of its 34,000 meters out of service after Idalia. On Friday morning, that number was reduced to about 9,900 outages. With more than 500 workers assigned to restoration, crews hope to restore 95% of the co-op’s system to normal operations by Sunday night.

Quincy-based Talquin Electric Cooperative reported 23,000 of its 55,000 meters in the aftermath of the storm. Crews were working Friday to restore power to about 700 meters that remained out of service.

Other Florida co-ops are wrapping up repairs, freeing crews to help in the most heavily damaged areas. After restoring service to more than 11,000 meters, crews from Dade City-based Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative headed out to assist SVEC.

In Georgia, where more than 131,000 utility customers in 12 counties lost power as Idalia pushed northeast toward the Atlantic, co-op outage numbers continue to decline.

Nahunta-based Okefenoke Rural Electric Membership Corp. reported more than 11,000 outages on its system following the storm. With only 60 members still awaiting service on Friday, repairs should be completed as soon as they can safely receive power.

Cairo-based Grady Electric Membership Corp. has completed restoration for about 2,000 outages on its 20,000-meter system. And Midway-based Coastal Electric Membership Corp. moved quickly to restore service to 400 members as flooding subsided and crews could work safely on repairs.

Derrill Holly is a staff writer for NRECA.