Line Technicians Wrapping Up Power Restoration

Lenoir, North Carolina (February 7, 2010, 8 a.m. Update) - Line technicians with Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation battled trees on power lines and icy conditions during power restoration efforts as they worked throughout last night and are still on the scene this morning restoring power to the remaining 54 members affected by the recent winter storm.

The majority of the outages occurred Saturday in Alleghany County where ice, winds and falling trees led to loss of power for 709 members at the height of the storm between noon and 1 p.m. Saturday. As of 8 a.m. today, line technicians are working to restore power to the final 35 members in this county who are without power. Linemen are also on the scene in Wilkes County to restore power to 18 members and to one member in Watauga County.

After a major storm, individual outages could be difficult to detect and therefore Blue Ridge Electric asks members who still without power to report them by calling the cooperative's Powerline at 1-800-448-2383. Ice is falling off power lines as temperatures warm today and this could cause limited outage situations that members should also report to the cooperative.

To assist Blue Ridge Electric line technicians in responding to what was predicted to be a major winter storm, the cooperative called in assisting crews on Friday from sister cooperative Randolph Electric Membership Corporation and Pike Corporation.

For updates on power restoration and other information, visit the cooperative's web site or Facebook page. A live outage map is available at www.BlueRidgeEMC.com by clicking on the "outage map" link located on the bottom right hand side of the web site.

As a safety reminder, downed power lines could still be energized and therefore dangerous or even deadly. If members see a downed power line, report it immediately to the cooperative and stay far away from the downed line.

Blue Ridge Electric serves some 73,000 members in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Wilkes, Avery and Alexander counties.