Gibson EMC Power Restoration Continues
Gibson Electric Membership Corporation has now restored power to all but 2,500 of the 12,000 customers who lost power as a result of this week‘s storms. Initially, customers throughout Gibson EMC‘s northwest Tennessee service area were affected. Now, we have about 1,400 without power in Gibson County, about 1,100 without power in Crockett County, and a few individual outages in Obion County. Co-op officials are unaware of any outages in Lake County. They expect to restore service to most today, but say it is too early at this time to say whether power will be restored to all members. Gibson EMC is asking customers in Lake County and Obion County to call their local customer service centers if they are still without power and their homes are “ready” for reconnection. Dan Rodamaker, Gibson EMC‘s President and CEO, says that crews cannot reconnect service to a home that has a damaged meter base or riser. He explains that if a customer has a damaged meter base or riser, they need to first call an electrician and have that problem repaired and then call Gibson EMC when they are ready for reconnection. Rodamaker says that with the work almost completed in Lake and Obion counties, virtually all Gibson EMC‘s crews, as well crews from Pickwick Electric Cooperative, Fayetteville Public Utilities, Hickman-Fulton Co. Rural Electric Cooperative Corp. and Standard Electric are working in Gibson and Crockett counties today. Gibson EMC uses a systematic approach to service restoration, giving first priority to hospitals and critical services such as police, fire, water and sewer stations and next priority to repairs that will restore service to the highest number of customers. Then they make the repairs that will restore services to individual homes and businesses. At this point, Rodamaker says crews are still working on the main feeder lines from substations. He urges customers to protect the crews by calling one of Gibson EMC‘s customer service centers before installing an electric generator. If you connect a portable electric generator to the main electrical supply coming into the house, the electrical generator could feed back into Gibson EMC‘s electric system and electrocute workers who believe they are working on de-energized lines. To avoid the back-feeding of electricity into Gibson EMC‘s system, you must have a qualified licensed electrician install your generator or use an extension cord to connect your appliance directly to the generator. Equally important, please stay clear of fallen electric lines or tree limbs touching electric lines. Always treat lines as though they are energized, because they may be. Do not attempt to move or cut trees that are in contact or may make contact with electric lines. And do not drive over fallen electric lines. Finally, please call and report downed electric lines. Gibson EMC is a rural electric cooperative serving more than 35,000 customers over 2,800 miles of electric line in Crockett, Dyer, Gibson, Lake, Obion, and north Madison counties.
