We’ve got a plan. Do you?

When hur­ri­canes occur, pow­er out­ages often fol­low. Your co-op under­stands how chal­leng­ing these storms can be, which is why we work year-round to improve our storm plan, so we can restore your pow­er as safe­ly and effi­cient­ly as pos­si­ble.

High winds, heavy rain and debris can dam­age crit­i­cal parts of the elec­tric grid, includ­ing trans­mis­sion lines, dis­tri­b­u­tion lines and tap lines. Trans­mis­sion lines, which car­ry pow­er from gen­er­a­tion plants to our sub­sta­tions, are like the inter­states of the grid. YEC-main­tained dis­tri­b­u­tion lines act like main roads, and our tap lines are the small­er side roads that deliv­er elec­tric­i­ty direct­ly to your home or busi­ness.

When a major storm caus­es wide­spread out­ages, our employ­ees fol­low a tried-and-true process. First, we check trans­mis­sion lines. These rarely fail, but when they do, they must be repaired first. We coor­di­nate with Duke Ener­gy and New Hori­zon Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive to do this. Mean­while, our crews inspect sub­sta­tions to deter­mine whether an out­age is caused by trans­mis­sion issues or inter­nal sub­sta­tion dam­age.

Once the grid’s back­bone is restored, line work­ers focus on dis­tri­b­u­tion and tap lines, replac­ing bro­ken poles, repair­ing downed wires and remov­ing fall­en trees. Crews work to remove a mas­sive fall­en tree that struck a home, a pow­er­ful reminder of why storm pre­pared­ness and pow­er restora­tion plan­ning mat­ter. to restore pow­er to neigh­bor­hoods and local areas. Final­ly, we address indi­vid­ual out­ages caused by dam­age to ser­vice lines or trans­form­ers on a member’s prop­er­ty.

Storm recov­ery often means rebuild­ing infra­struc­ture, not just repair­ing it. Even if you don’t see our crews, we’re out in the field, work­ing from a strate­gic plan to restore pow­er for every­one. We work around the clock until every light is back on.

Your co-op learns from every major out­age, includ­ing Hur­ri­cane Helene, which impact­ed our com­mu­ni­ty near­ly a year ago. Since then, we’ve improved our process­es and increased our readi­ness. At the same time, we want to ensure you’re pre­pared, too.

We encour­age every mem­ber to devel­op a per­son­al emer­gency plan before a storm hits. Start by cre­at­ing an emer­gency sup­ply kit with enough non­per­ish­able food and water for sev­er­al days, flash­lights, bat­ter­ies, a bat­tery-pow­ered or hand-crank radio, a first aid kit, cell­phone charg­ers and nec­es­sary med­ica­tions.

If a fam­i­ly mem­ber uses pow­ered med­ical equip­ment, talk with your health care provider now to cre­ate an emer­gency plan. If you have a back­up gen­er­a­tor, make sure it is well main­tained, and always fol­low safe­ty guide­lines: nev­er oper­ate a gen­er­a­tor inside or attempt to con­nect it direct­ly to your home’s elec­tri­cal sys­tem.

Dis­cuss your emer­gency plans with your fam­i­ly. Make sure every­one knows what to expect, includ­ing how you’ll stay con­nect­ed, where you’ll go if you need to evac­u­ate, and how you’ll check on pets, elder­ly neigh­bors and vul­ner­a­ble loved ones.

We all need a plan in place before a storm hits. Your co-op has one and will con­tin­ue to look out for you, rain or shine.