My fellow members,
Colquitt EMC continues to work diligently to restore power to all of our affected members. I would like to provide you with some good news:
As of last night, the final three substations that did not have transmission service are back online. As a reminder, at its peak, 13 substations of our 29 substations were without service. Through the combined efforts of Georgia Transmission and Georgia Power, all transmission service was restored effectively. In my 28 years of working here at Colquitt EMC, having 13 substations without service is the highest I have experienced. Some other news, at its peak, Colquitt EMC had approximately 67,000 of our 73,000 meters without power. We have worked every day since the outage began Friday morning. As of 5 AM this morning, our number of meters without service dropped to 31,441.
With transmission service being restored to all substations, Colquitt EMC can now begin working to restore power to our members in more effective use of our manpower. With substations being without service, we were unable to do a significant amount of work in areas of substations that lacked transmission service. We were unable to follow the methods that are the most effective use of our manpower. With all stations, now having service we can revert to what makes the most sense in restoring power. We should see some improvements in the pace of progress.
When we describe the transmission service to our substation or electric service to our 73,000 meters, the cause and effect are the same. There is an immense amount of work required to restore service in these areas. Our internal employees and our long-term contractors consistently display an exceptional work ethic. This combined with the other contractors that we have brought in has made these large gains possible. You can not make these gains in service restoration without an immense amount of hard work. As an employee here at Colquitt EMC, with over 42 years of experience in our business, as well as being a Colquitt EMC member, I can share with you how proud I am of the hard work that our construction and right-of-way crews have put forward. They are always willing to go to the most challenging of places and undertake the most challenging of work. They do so without grumbling or complaint. It is that display of work ethic that makes Colquitt EMC such an attractive place to work for. If each of you could see how hard they work as I can, you would be in complete agreement with their dedication.
My fellow members, we are on day 6 of our Hurricane Helene Restoration Effort. We are truly working as diligently as possible. I ask for your continued patience and continued prayers for the health and safety of your fellow members and those working to restore power.
Sincerely,
Danny Nichols
President/CEO
Submitted photos of damages from Hurricane Helene in Colquitt County