Weekend storm causes outages across state

Winter Storm Fern brought rain, sleet, snow and then ice across Kentucky beginning on Sunday morning, January 25.  Approximately four inches of snow – covered with half an inch of ice - covered roads and highways, tree limbs and power lines resulting in more than 12,000 Jackson Energy members being without service as of 11:30 a.m. that same morning. The cooperative’s reaction time was swift, as by mid-afternoon on the same day, Jackson Energy had mutual aid and contract crews enroute from Kentucky and Virginia to assist in their restoration efforts. In total, close to 280 field personnel and support staff were working for Jackson Energy’s members, including the following:

Salt River Electric

Licking Valley RECC

Clark Energy

Davis H. Elliot Company

Kendall Vegetation Services

PraXel Line / Utility Services

Southeast Power

Even though these crews worked long hours in brutal temperatures and extremely dangerous conditions – they shared Jackson Energy’s mission to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. As of Thursday, January 29, crews were working to restore service to the remaining 22 Jackson Energy members that were in the hardest hit areas with the most damage to their infrastructure.

Overall, field personnel addressed 498 individual outages. Restoration and cleanup efforts led to the reinstatement of 18 feeders, the replacement of more than 40 damaged poles, the exchange of 20 transformers, and the reconstruction of more than 600 spans of wire.

Jackson Energy is grateful to their membership for their encouragement, prayers and patience during the co-op’s restoration efforts.

“At Jackson Energy, the safety of our members and employees is our number one priority.  We appreciate all our crews for working safely, yet diligently, to restore service to our members,” said Ryan Henderson, President and CEO.