Wednesday Power Restoration Update for Bulloch – EMC exceeds 50% restoration – 11,000 remain without power

At the time of publication of this article, Georgia Power estimates restoration of power to the remaining 4,608 customers in Statesboro and Bulloch County on Thursday, October 3, 2024.

Excelsior EMC's outage maps do not include estimated recovery times (ERT), but company officials estimate a total of 7 to 10 days for full recovery. EMC has 6,901 customers in Bulloch at the time of this story.

Failure cards

Excelsior EMC is warning customers that power outages could last a total of 7 to 10 days.

Georgia Power estimates on its outage map that the restoration time for Bulloch is until Thursday evening, October 3, 2024.

Georgia authorities have determined that Hurricane Helene was the most destructive hurricane in its history, damaging infrastructure across the state.

Click here to view the updated Bulloch outage map from findenergy.com.

Wednesday, October 2nd, statements from the energy suppliers

EMC

Click here for EMC updates on their Facebook page.

“As the sixth day of Hurricane Helene recovery comes to a close, we want to remind our members that this remains a major outage. Some areas could remain without power for several more days. We have done our best to communicate our recovery.” If you believe you may be without power for an extended period, we urge you to consider alternative accommodation if possible.

We understand your questions about the more populated areas, and most remaining outages in these areas are isolated to a single person or a few people, requiring time to troubleshoot and repair. Our priority is always safety – for both our members and our linemen. With over 500 crew members on site, we are committed to taking every precaution to eliminate any risk of injury as we continue to expand our distribution system.

Currently, 54% of our members are recovered. As we continue to work to restore power to everyone, we understand that many of you would like further technical details. We will share as much as possible.

We have over 80 line crews working in our service area, not including the machine operators who clear the right of way.

We have 820 individual outages to resolve by this evening. Each of these presents a unique problem that needs to be solved – some will take hours, others may take an entire day. The job isn't always as simple as removing a link from a line and resetting a fuse, especially given the widespread damage.

To help you better understand the process, here's how our recovery approach works. We follow the industry standard plan, starting at the substation and working outward. The substation is the starting point for all electrical circuits; If there is any damage between your home and the substation, e.g. For example, due to a broken pole or downed line, power cannot be restored until the problem is resolved.

It may seem chaotic, but our process is about maximizing efficiency. We'll focus on the largest outages first, focusing on those that will restore power to the most people with the least amount of effort. For example, if we can restore 300 members with one repair, we prioritize that over smaller, more isolated issues. That doesn't mean we only focus on densely populated areas – it means we aim to attract the most members as quickly as possible.

As we progress to smaller outages that affect fewer members, progress may slow. For example, it may take days to repair multiple broken poles that may only affect two members. Every member is important, and while it may seem to some that progress is slow, our work is driven by efficiency so that we can restore power to everyone as quickly as possible.

We want to acknowledge the frustration that comes with seeing the power of others restored while your own is absent. This hurricane was one of the most devastating storms to life and property in our nation's history, and we are facing the worst natural disaster our region has experienced in modern times. Please note that Excelsior EMC is exhausting all resources and securing more every day to get work back on track for each and every one of our members.

We are committed to our community and will not rest until all of our members are restored. Thank you for your patience and understanding during this challenging time.”

We would like to answer some frequently asked questions:

Q. Why don't I see anyone working near me?

A. Electricity travels a long way to reach you – from the power plant, to transmission lines, to substations, to main distribution lines, and finally to branch lines. Each segment must be operational for power to reach your home. The damage to your home can be miles away. Rest assured, our teams will inspect and repair what is needed to restore your power.

Q. Why does my neighbor have electricity but I don't?

A. Your home may be served by a different substation, transformer or line than your neighbor's. It could also be a problem with your connection point, meter tower or other local devices. We are working as quickly as possible to restore all connections.

Q. Do I have to report my outage more than once?

A. Once you have reported your outage, there is no need to call again. Repeated calls can prevent others from reporting new outages and create duplicate tickets for the same location.

Q. I have a medical need for electricity. Why isn't my power restored immediately?

A. We encourage all members with medical needs to have an emergency plan in place. Before we can focus on individual priority accounts, we need to fix the backbone of our system. This includes substations and main distribution lines. It's like a tree: we have to repair the trunk before we can repair the branches.

GPC

At the time of publishing this story, there was no new update from GPC on 10/24/24. We will update as soon as they provide us with an update.

Please visit our outage map for the latest update on our recovery process, including ERTs. We will continue to update the outage map and our customers on social media.

Thank a lineman

Now is the time to shower kindness and patience on all the linemen who are working tirelessly around the clock to restore our power. Many of these dedicated employees have traveled long distances and left their families behind to help us.

If you have a sign in front of your business, please use it to thank road wardens. Any show of support for her will go a long way.