Some Residents Still Await Power
As utility crews worked to gets residents’ power restored, some homeowners say they have found a new respect for the basics of life. “You just don’t know how good you have it until it’s gone,” said Gary Williams, a homeowner who had been without utilities since Monday’s storm. Like many others, Williams delayed in having his power restored was in part because he had to have repaired done to his home before Lexington Electric could reconnect him. He said those repairs were complete Tuesday and he had become anxious by Friday when his power was not back on. By Friday afternoon, he was back on line. Utility crews said he would have been reconnected more quickly if it had not been for a wrong address printed on their work order. “When the storm hit, it hit and knocked out probably 60 to 70 percent of our customer base,” said Jeff Graves, General Manager of Lexington Electric Systems. “That was about 22,000 customers.” Graves added that members of the community have been patient while his crews worked around the clock to restore service to customers throughout a three county area. “What has taken us the longer has been the isolated calls, small towns that had poles down,” said Graves. “We had to get those up before we could get one or two customers on.” Lexington Electric hoped to have all of their customers back online by 7:00 p.m., Friday. The only exception would be customers, like Williams, who must have work done on their private property first.
