EEI honors power companies for best responses to weather emergencies

The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) handed out industry awards at its winter meeting in Tucson, Arizona this week to power companies that best responded to emergencies.

Three companies were given EEI’s Emergency Recovery Award, which honors extraordinary efforts to restore power to customers after service disruptions caused by severe weather conditions.

One of the recipients was Georgia Power for its power restoration efforts after 14 tornadoes hit Georgia in March 2019. The tornado outbreak, which included an EF4 tornado, broke or damaged more than 100 power poles and forced more than 16 miles of downed wire. It led to approximately 19,000 power outages. Some 600 personnel were mobilized as part of the company’s restoration effort, including support from other Southern Company operating companies. The personnel committed roughly 20,000 hours, and power was fully restored within three days.

Georgia Power has won the award eight times, including last year.

“It is an honor to once again receive EEI’s Emergency Recovery Award recognizing Georgia Power’s dedication to serving our customers following natural disasters like last year’s tornado outbreak,” Paul Bowers, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power, said. “This award recognizes that when storms strike, the men and women from Georgia Power and assisting utilities will work tirelessly to restore power as safely and quickly as possible.”

Dayton Power and Light Company also won the award for its restoration efforts after a series of 15 tornados hit Ohio in May. The storms resulted in outrages for 101,748 customers. Crews worked tirelessly to restore service to fully restore power within 10 days, dedicating 80,000 man-hours to the recovery efforts.

“On behalf of all of our DP&L people, we are extremely honored to be recognized with EEI’s Emergency Recovery Award for our restoration efforts following the Memorial Day Tornados, which ranks as one of the top three storms for DP&L in recent history,” Lisa Krueger, president of AES US, which is the parent company of DP&L, said. “We take great pride in serving our customers and thank the crews for their extraordinary dedication during an unprecedented weather event that people will remember for years to come. The extensive damage from the tornados presented challenging conditions with crews working round the clock to safely restore electric service to our customers and neighbors.”

Entergy Corp. brought home two awards. First, they won the Emergency Recovery Award for its restoration efforts after Hurricane Barry caused 141,471 outages in Louisiana last July. Crews restored service to 100 percent of customers within eight days, committing 430,384 man-hours to the massive effort.

Entergy was also bestowed with the Emergency Assistance Award, which is given to companies who best assisted other electric companies’ power restoration efforts. Entergy won for the help it provided during a severe windstorm that hit Dallas in June. Entergy sent 23 company damage assessors more than 500 miles to aid restoration efforts over five days.

“Entergy is honored to receive these awards from EEI recognizing our efforts to restore service to our customers and those of our neighbors,” Willie Wilson, Entergy’s system storm incident commander, said. “I am proud of the spirit of Entergy’s employees. I also believe the camaraderie may be unique that exists in the electric utility business. These awards reflect how we support each other in these times because of our desire to serve customers effectively and to get the lights on.”

Indianapolis Power & Light Company (IPL), a subsidiary of AES Corp., also won the Emergency Assistance Award. This award was given to IP&L for its efforts to help Dayton Power & Light restore power during the above referenced tornado outbreak in Ohio. IPL sent 26 line workers and support personnel more than 120 miles to help restore service to customers over 10 days.

“We are honored to be recognized for EEI’s Emergency Assistance Award,” AES’s Krueger said. “We are proud to serve our customers in Indianapolis and answer the call to help the critical restoration efforts for our neighboring electric companies in times of need.”