Blue Ridge Electric Restoring 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 (4:30 p.m., December 5, 2002) –Line crews for Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation have restored power to most of the 2,618 members who were without power earlier today due to ice and downed trees affecting power reliability.
At a height of 1,623 Caldwell County members without power just before noon, Blue Ridge Electric now has power restored to all but 371 members here. Outages remain concentrated in the southern part of Caldwell County, in and around the Granite Falls area.
All power has been restored to Watauga County, where 344 members were without power earlier today.
In Ashe County, the power is on for all but 168 of the 242 members who lost power earlier this morning.
Alleghany County is still being affected by ice and falling trees and limbs, with outages rising to a total 409 members this afternoon.
Crews will continue to work throughout the evening on power restoration efforts. Customer service representatives will also continue to man telephone lines for members to report outages or downed power lines.
Outages began occurring for Blue Ridge Electric members as early as 3:30 a.m., starting first in Watauga and Caldwell counties.
Blue Ridge Electric members should report outages by calling the cooperative’s automated outage reporting system, PowerLine, at 1-800-448-2383, from a telephone at the affected residence or business. Members may also report outages at any local Blue Ridge office: (Lenoir: 754-9071; Boone: 264-8894; West Jefferson: 246-7138; and Sparta: 372-4646).
Blue Ridge Electric serves some 64,000 consumers in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Wilkes and Alexander counties. Its subsidiary, Blue Ridge Energies, provides propane and other home heating fuels to Caldwell, Catawba, Watauga, Ashe and Alleghany counties.
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