CREWE, Va – Progress continues toward restoring Southside Electric Cooperative (SEC) members without power due to heavy snow and ice from Winter Storm Gia on Jan.12-13.
The majority of the outages have been caused by heavily weighted, ice-covered trees, many of which were outside of the authorized right-of-way, falling into SEC’s infrastructure. SEC and mutual aid crews worked throughout the night to repair the damage.
As of 2:00 P.M. Monday, approximately 5,000 members remained without power. At the peak of the event, nearly 11,000 members were impacted.
Throughout the day and into the night, crews will continue working across SEC’s service territory to restore power.
SEC wishes to thank A&N Electric Cooperative, BARC Electric Cooperative, Central Electric Membership Corporation – North Carolina, Craig Botetourt Electric Cooperative, Community Electric Cooperative, Northern Neck Electric Cooperative, Pee Dee Electric – North Carolina, Prince George Electric Cooperative, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative and Lee Electrical Construction, Inc. for providing restoration assistance.
SEC understands that it is an inconvenience to be without power during an extended outage and we are grateful for members’ continued patience as repairs are made.
SEC encourages members to plan for extended outages over multiple days due to the extent of damage to our system.
To report outages, please call 1-866-878-5514. Those enrolled in the Cooperative’s TextPower program can text #out to 1-866-878-5514 to report outages and will receive updates when available by texting #status.
SEC reminds members never to touch or try to move a downed power line; always assume that fallen infrastructure is energized. Please wait for SEC personnel to arrive and make repairs.
Southside Electric Cooperative is a not-for-profit, member-owned electric cooperative that serves more than 56,000 homes and businesses in portions of 18 counties in central and southern Virginia. Headquartered in Crewe, SEC has district offices in Altavista, Crewe, Dinwiddie and Powhatan. For more information, visit www.sec.coop.
