Blue Ridge Electric Restores Power
For Immediate Release
Contact: Renee Whitener, Director of Corporate Communications, Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation, (828) 758-2383 ext. 3213; Pager:1-800-471-1323; or E-mail: Renee Whitener
Lenoir, North Carolina (7:30 a.m., December 6, 2002) –
Line crews for Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation worked throughout the evening to “get the lights on” for 2,726 cooperative members who lost power during one of the most severe ice storms in several years.
While all power from the original outage was restored, Watauga County experienced a new outage this morning at 12:12 a.m., with 69 people in the Hattie Hill community losing power. All but 20 people affected were restored with power by 6:30 a.m. Due to heavy fog, linemen are walking the lines to detect the problem in order to restore power to the remaining members.
Caldwell County experienced the largest number of outages during the storm, with a high of 1,623 members without power at noon Thursday. In Watauga County, 344 members were affected and in Ashe County, 242 members were restored with power. In Alleghany, crews worked throughout the night to get power back on for 517 members who were affected by the storm. The first outages began occurring in Watauga and Caldwell counties around 3:30 a.m. Thursday.
With most of the cooperative’s power restored Thursday afternoon, Blue Ridge Electric released several of its crews to assist sister cooperative Rutherford Electric Membership Corporation, which experienced larges numbers of outages due to the storm.
Blue Ridge Electrics home heating fuels subsidiary, Blue Ridge Energies, continued to remain open and delivering propane, kerosene and home heating fuel where roads were passable. The Lenoir office on 110 Nuway Circle remained open to fill propane cylinders for customers. In addition, the commercial gasoline area of the business continued delivering gasoline to gas stations during the storm.
Blue Ridge Electric serves some 64,000 consumers in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Wilkes and Alexander counties. Blue Ridge Energies provides home heating fuels and commercial gasoline to Caldwell, Catawba, Watauga, Ashe, and Alleghany counties.
