In the six days since Hurricane Idalia barreled through SVEC's system and communities, power has been restored to over 20,500 of the co-op’s consumer members.
“In the 87 years of the cooperative, this is by far the worst damage we’ve experienced,” says SVEC CEO Mike McWaters. “As of today, we have found over 1,200 broken poles that have to be replaced. That can take four to six hours for each pole, so you can imagine the time SVEC employees and mutual aid workers are spending getting new poles in place and ready for service.”
About 2,000 workers continue night and day to restore power. They are supported by multiple staging sites throughout the area, increasing the logistical efficiency of such a sizeable workforce.
As the restoration process enters its latter phases, some of SVEC’s consumer-members may need to have certain components of their home’s electrical equipment repaired before their power can be safely restored. Safety should always be top of mind when working with electrical equipment and SVEC recommends having all electrical work done by a qualified electrician.
