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 (6 a.m. January 24, 2003) – Line crews for Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation worked throughout the night to “get the lights on” for several hundred members who lost power during scattered outages caused by wind damage last night. As of 6 a.m., only 1 member in Watauga County, 1 member in Alleghany County, and a total of 34 people in Ashe County are out of power across the Blue Ridge service territory.
Last evening, however, rising winds caused scattered outages in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany and Wilkes counties. Since midnight, power restoration efforts included 369 people in Watauga County, 365 in Ashe County, and 23 people in Caldwell County. In the Idlewild and Maple Springs communities reaching into Alleghany and Wilkes counties, a circuit outage affected 288 members from 12:35 a.m. until 4:30 a.m.
If members experience an outage, they may call any local Blue Ridge Electric office or PowerLine at 1-800-448-2383, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Blue Ridge Electric’s home heating fuels subsidiary, Blue Ridge Energies, continues to remain open and delivering propane, kerosene and home heating fuel where roads are passable. The Lenoir office on 110 Nuway Circle remains open to fill propane cylinders for customers. In addition, the commercial gasoline area of the business continues deliveries to gas stations where roads are passable.
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.
