PRESS RELEASE
Glasgow News 1
Farmers RECC Final Outage Update as of 7:09 p.m. May 29
We are thrilled to say this is our final outage update. Every member who can be restored has received power.
The severe weather that started on May 26 left over 6,000 members without power and 40 broken poles across our system. In four days, our team completed 137 outage repairs.
We want to take a moment to share our thanks. We appreciate our members’ support and gracious words as we worked hard to restore
power. We also want to publicly thank our entire employee team as well. It takes all of us working together to restore service after damage of this magnitude.
– To our linemen for their tireless diligence and dedication to our members.
– To our member service representatives, who answered member questions with the utmost degree of professionalism
– To the team who kept everyone fed and basic needs met, we couldn’t have managed without you.
– To our dispatching team for keeping restoration moving efficiently
– To our fleet and warehousing personnel for keeping trucks running and stocked
– To the members of our team who handled daily tasks so the majority could focus on storm restoration
We also want to thank our sister cooperatives and local municipal for coming to our aid.
– Midwest Electric
– Pioneer Electric Cooperative
– Glasgow Electric Plant Board
– Inter-County Energy
We also want to thank our contracted construction and Right-of-Way crews for their assistance during this event.
– Great Southwestern Construction
– Townsend Tree Service
– 5 Star Electric, LLC.
– Kendall Vegetation Services
We also appreciate our directors, media partners, local businesses, and residents who offered help in any way. This kind of teamwork is what makes our local communities so strong.
Lastly, we want to say a special ‘Thank You’ to our families. We understand the stress placed on our spouses, parents, grandparents, and friends when we have to miss family time or holidays because the lights go out. We appreciate your efforts to keep the homefires burning in our absence.
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Farmers RECC Outage Update as of 10:22 a.m. May 29
Crews have worked tirelessly and have made more progress overnight, reducing outages to 14 total outages impacting 58 members. Due to the incredible dedication of our crews, we are hopeful that, barring major complications, complete power restoration will be
finished today.
We know these final members are anxious to have their power restored. We want our members to know that the last member to be restored is just as important to us as the first member.
Today’s outage restoration will be slow. Many of these final outages require specialized equipment to allow our crews to get into challenging areas to change poles or make repairs.
This storm system, by the numbers:
– 6,000+ members without power at the height of the storm
– 40 broken poles
– 25 damaged transformers
– 60+ operations personnel, including 34 mutual aid individuals
– Thousands of employee hours worked
We will send out a final update once all power is restored.
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Farmers RECC Outage Update as of 10:01 p.m. May 28
Crews have outages down to 162 members. While this is a smaller number than we have achieved over the last few days, it is still significant. As we have shared, this stage of the restoration process slows due to the nature of the member per outage ratio, which is currently approximately only 5 members per outage. Barring major complications, we hope to have all members restored by Friday.
We know it’s frustrating to not know exactly when the power will be back on. This phase of our restoration will be the most tedious process of storm recovery.
We know these final members are anxious to have their power restored. Members have messaged us, 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 till all members are restored.
While we would like to provide details on each individual outage, each outage is different and presents its own unique challenges for our crews, which is why estimated restoration times are hard to set and vary for each member. If you have reported a line down, tree
on line, or other issue, we will continue to work on those until each one is resolved.
We appreciate our members continued patience and prayers.
We will update again tomorrow morning by 10AM.
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Farmers RECC Outage Update as of 1 p.m. May 28
Crews made good progress last night and this morning. We still currently have 79 individual outages, impacting 694 members. We know our members without power are frustrated, we are too. But we will not stop until we have everyone on. We know it’s frustrating to not know exactly when the power will be back on. This phase of our restoration will be the most tedious process of storm recovery.
Many of the remaining outages are impacting smaller groups or single members. This means that while our crews are working hard and making progress, each job will only reenergize a few members at a time. However, we still have over 30 mutual aid employees, plus Farmers RECC operations personnel working hard on those small remaining outages.
A huge ‘Thank You’ to crews from Midwest Electric, Inc. from Ohio, Pioneer Electric Cooperative from Ohio, 5 Star Electric Contracting, Great South Western Construction Contracting, Glasgow Electric Plant Board, Townsend Tree Service and Inter-County Energy.
Members have reached out, 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 till all members are restored.
While we would like to provide details on each individual outage, each outage is different and presents its own unique challenges for our crews, which is why estimated restoration times are hard to set and vary for each member.
Our goal is zero outages, and we will continue to work as safely and efficiently as possible until all members have service.
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Farmers RECC Outage Update as of 8 p.m.
This will be our last update this evening. We will update again tomorrow morning.
Crews are making progress. Right now, approximately 2,400 members are still without power, down from a peak of more than 6,000 members at the height of the storm last night.
Crews are continuing pole replacements, wire repairs and tree removals. The destruction from this storm was extensive and complex. The saturated ground conditions have also slowed restoration progress, making it difficult for our crews to maneuver to restoration sites. We do not expect complete power restoration for several more days.
In addition to Farmers RECC employees, more than 25 crew members from sister cooperatives and contracted crews are assisting with power restoration.
As a clarification, we ask all members to avoid any contact with power lines. This includes tree or debris removal. As a reminder, always assume power lines are energized and any contact with them is extremely dangerous. Should you see any debris in contact with power lines, please report them to us at 270-651-2191.
While we know it is frustrating, we are not able to provide estimated restoration times for specific locations due to the volume and nature of the outages. You also may be wondering why you receive daily usage readings, despite being without power during that time. Our metering system estimates a daily reading based on your location’s historic usage. If our meters do not receive a reading, they will automatically estimate. Once power is restored and we regain communications with the meter, it will reset to the actual reading.
We will continue to share updates as we have them. Thank you for your understanding and patience as we restore electric service.
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Farmers RECC Outage Update as of 2 p.m.
Farmers RECC crews are working hard today, replacing multiple broken poles, putting up wire spans and cleared downed trees. We currently have approximately 3100 members without power.
In total, we have approximately 30 Farmers RECC operations personnel in the field restoring outages, plus support staff and other employees working behind the scenes. We have nearly doubled our workforce with additional 25 crew members total from Midwest Electric, Inc. from Ohio, Pioneer Electric Cooperative from Ohio, 5 Star Electric Contracting, Great South Western Construction Contracting, Glasgow Electric Plant Board and Townsend Tree Service.
First, we want to say that we understand this has been difficult for our members. We know you are frustrated. Please be assured that our crews won’t stop working until all of our members have been restored.
The saturated ground conditions have slowed restoration progress, making it difficult for our crews to maneuver to restoration sites.
We have also received questions from members upset they haven’t seen anyone on their road working. The way the power grid is constructed, it is possible for us to be working several miles away on a problem that will actually get your power restored. Some members may be questioning why their neighbor has power, but they don’t. First, check the breakers in your panel box to make sure some aren’t tripped. Second, remember that your home may be served by a different substation, line or transformer. Your line could also be damaged at your service line or service connection point.
We remain optimistic that we will make a significant reduction in the number of outages today. For those of you still without power, hang in there with us. We appreciate your patience and prayers. We will post another update at 8PM.
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By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
After the wave of severe weather that traveled across much of Kentucky on May 26 Farmers RECC is reporting over 2,500 outages in their Barren County service area.
According to the Farmers RECC online outage viewer the electric cooperative has hundreds of outages south of Glasgow — not including outages reported in the 10 other counties they serve.
Caralyne Pennington, director of public communications at Farmers RECC, said due to the widespread nature of the outages she has no clear timeline as of yet on when all outages will be remedied. As a result she advises those Farmers RECC customers who rely on electricity for medical equipment or those that require refrigeration of medicine to make alternate arrangements.
“We don’t really have any sort of estimated restoration time at this point just due to the volume and widespread nature of these outages,” Pennington said. “Currently we have 99 outages affecting about 3,600 people so we’re working diligently but it’s just going to take time.”
While there is no concrete timeline yey, Pennington said Farmers RECC crews, contracted crews and other crews from nearby cooperatives — specifically she mentioned Ohio and cooperatives in Eastern Kentucky — are out working to make the necessary repairs.
“All of our crews are working today,” Pennington said. “We have construction and contracted crews also on site and aiding in-house crews. We’ve also requested mutual aid from other cooperatives…that will be helping us hopefully today. ”
According to Pennington Farmers RECC will be sending out regular updates until the majority of the outages are resolved. As a result such updates will be added to this article once they become available.
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