Utility Crews Working Overtime To Restore Power

Monday, January 22nd 2007, 9:49 am

By: News On 6

Oklahoma power companies are making progress after the storm. About 16,000 customers statewide are still without power, most are in eastern Oklahoma. A big chunk of those are Eastern Oklahoma Electric Coop customers. But it could be some time before everyone gets power restored.

Crews took advantage of dry weather Monday to work on downed trees and power lines. They're working long hours to restore power. News on 6 anchor Craig Day says workers have gained a lot of ground, but there is a lot more work ahead.

Donald Birdsong woke up to the sounds of an electric co-op chainsaw crew. When you're going on nine days without electricity, there's no better sounding alarm clock.

"We're very grateful for all the help and the people who have come from the other states. Just to help out. It's going to be a while and we haven't had anything like this for quite a while," said Mayes County resident Donald Birdsong

With his wood burning stove, battery operated TVâ€™s and radios, and lanterns, Birdsong and his family are getting by as best they can.

"I've lived in this house all my life and this is the first time that I have ever seen anything like this," Birdsong said.

He's one of 7,500 Northeast Oklahoma Electric Coop customers without power. That's down from a high of 25,000 thanks to the long, hard, cold hours by nearly 500 people working for the coop.

"It's a very long day. It's very tiring. It's day in and day out. There are no days off. We worked all through the weekend trying to restore service as fast as possible, but at the same time doing it safely," Robert Echenrode with Northeast Oklahoma Electric Coop said.

One of the biggest challenges for crews is that in most cases, downed limbs and trees have to be cleared before they can even get to power lines. For example, there may be as many as a dozen downed trees on one mile of electric line. Crews have restored nearly 850 miles of distribution lines. Even with the hard work, it could be ten days to two weeks before everyoneâ€™s power is restored, mainly because some areas are difficult to get to.

Northeast Oklahoma Electric lost six substations and three transmission lines because of the ice. Most of their trouble areas right now are south of Grand Lake and north of U.S. Highway 412 in Delaware and Mayes Counties.

The utility now has a much better idea of when power will be restored to specific towns and areas, you can see their restoration schedule at www.neelectric.com.