Crews have made good progress throughout the day, driving total outage numbers down to approximately 1,000.  While this progress is encouraging, restoration remains slow due to extensive damage and hazardous conditions including downed trees, damaged power lines, broken poles, and treacherous road conditions.  

Members should be prepared for power restoration to take until at least Wednesday, with some outages lasting until Thursday.  

Several have asked why restoration is taking so long. Unfortunately, we are still finding broken poles and damaged lines. Why didn’t we find them on the first day? We provide power to parts of 11 counties by maintaining more than 3,700 miles of lines and literally tens of thousands of poles. While we have predictive equipment on our grid, we still must drive (or even walk) miles at a time, looking for damage. As we have shared before, power restoration is very labor-intensive.  

Furthermore, when restoring power, we begin by repairing outages that affect the largest number of members and then work our way down to smaller, individual outages. This approach is the safest, most efficient way to bring power back on and is standard practice across the industry. 

We have heard from members worried we have forgotten them. We promise this is not the case. We have a plan, and we are working that plan. All hands are on deck, and we will be here around the clock until all members are restored.  

To help our crews restore power as safely and quickly as possible, we encourage members to report any hazards such as downed lines, broken poles, or sparking equipment by calling us at 270-651-2191. Remember to always assume that downed lines are energized and stay away.  

We also ask that neighbors look for one another, especially those who are elderly or medically vulnerable. We understand that these temperatures are brutal, and the safety of our members and employees is our top priority.  

We are extremely thankful for your patience, understanding, and support. We will remain all-hands-on-deck and will continue to work towards complete restoration for our members.