For immediate release
Contact: Jim McCarty
(573) 659-3402
(573) 680-2451

Dec. 12, 2007 — 11 a.m.

Progress continues on co-op outage restoration

View the latest information about Missouri co-op systems affected by the ice storm.

Missouri’s electric cooperatives in the path of a series of winter storms made great progress restoring power overnight, despite continuing bouts of freezing rain that fell across the northern half of Missouri. Most of the northern Missouri electric co-ops barely held their own overnight as new ice added to their problems. But in south and central Missouri, the number of outages was cut in half as the all-out restoration effort turned the corner.

An estimated 26,000 electric cooperative members were without power as of 8 a.m., Dec. 12.

Hardest hit at this point is United Electric Cooperative based in Maryville, which has 6,000 members without service and at least 70 three-phase poles broken. Getting three-phase lines on is critical to the effort and is normally the first step in storm restoration. It could be a five days to a week before United completes the restoration effort.

Nearby Atchison-Holt Electric suffered 1,500 outages. “We are staying about even now but if the wind comes up, yikes!” says Manager Terry Zeigler.

Meanwhile in southwest Missouri, New-Mac Electric, Neosho, and Barton County Electric, Lamar, reported substantial progress. New-Mac outages are under 2,000, while Barton County has 1,100 without power.

“We were going backwards Sunday and Monday,” says Barton County Manager Bobbi Jeffries. “Then the ice started melting and we didn’t have any new problems from that. Now we are dealing with mud. We are pulling trucks out with four-wheel drive tractors.”

New-Mac also reported problems with mud, compounded by steadily falling rain. At one point 5,000 members were without power. That jumped to 9,500 when KAMO Power lost lines feeding four New-Mac substations. Those lines were repaired within an hour, however.

“We certainly appreciate our customer’s patience at this time,” said New-Mac Electric’s Mark Rakes. “We’re diligently working around the clock and will continue until everyone has their electricity restored.”

Southwest Electric, Bolivar, had more than 3,000 outages but had reduced that number to less than 500 Wednesday morning. Ozark Electric, Mount Vernon, one of the hardest hit systems in the January ice storm, restored power to 3,000 members and then sent crews to assist surrounding systems.

Sac Osage Electric, El Dorado Springs, saw new outages overnight as melting ice let tree limbs leap into lines. Every gain was matched by new outage calls, leaving 2,600 without power.

In Central Missouri all affected cooperatives made significant progress, with Boone Electric, Columbia, Consolidated Electric, Mexico, and Three Rivers Electric, Linn, have outages numbering in the hundreds or less. Cuivre River Electric, Troy, had cut its outage total to 1,500 while Co-Mo Electric, Tipton, still has 2,600 from the original 9,000 outages.

Co-Mo’s Manager Ken Johnson doubled the work force tackling the rebuilding process since the start of ice-caused outages. There are 100 workers and 51 construction, clearing and rebuilding trucks on the job.

While progress is taking place, it’s slow going in northwest Missouri where weary local crews are being heavily reinforced by fresh line crews from unaffected parts of Missouri and Nebraska.

Gene Dorrel, manager of United Electric, called the storm the worst he’s seen in his 30 years at the co-op. “This is by far and away the worst I’ve seen. Through the first night it was just outages. Then the ice got heavy enough and we started losing poles. The guys were just spinning their wheels. They’d get somebody on and another tree limb would fall through it.”

He says most storms just hit one part of the co-op’s 11-county service area, allowing him to move crews into the affected area. But this one blanketed the region with heavy ice. “This time it’s everybody.”

At Tri-County Electric in Lancaster, linemen brought the outage total to 1,000, down from 3,000 at the height of the storm. But crews were concerned about ice on trees that is expected to melt today. “If the radar’s right, we aren’t going to get any more,” says Tri-County Manager Dave Ramsey. “But the problem is it’s going to warm up tomorrow so all this stuff is going to come off. That’s the scary part.”

North-Central Missouri Electric in Milan saw an additional 100 outages overnight, while Grundy Electric, Trenton, saw outage numbers decrease by 500.

Assistance from other electric cooperatives is making a huge difference in the time it takes to get members back on, all systems are reporting. There are more than 200 linemen from unaffected systems in Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois and Nebraska lending a hand.

"We're really happy to see the Nebraska crews, as they represent, ultimately, happy members," says Mike Torres, Platte-Clay Electric’s manager.

The latest outage estimates follow. These will change dramatically as work continues today.

Atchison-Holt Electric Cooperative, Rockport: 1,500
Barton Electric Cooperative, Lamar: 1,100
Boone Electric Cooperative, Columbia: 25
Callaway Electric Cooperative, Fulton: 4,900
Consolidated Electric Cooperative, Mexico: 300
CoMo Electric Cooperative, Tipton: 2,600
Cuivre River Electric Cooperative, Troy: 1,500
Farmers’ Electric Cooperative, Chillicothe: 100
Grundy Electric Cooperative, Trenton: 1,000
New Mac Electric Cooperative, Neosho: 1,900
North Central Missouri Electric Cooperative, Milan: 1,400
Ozark Electric Cooperative, Mt. Vernon: Restoration complete
Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative, Kearney: 2,500
Sac Osage Electric Cooperative, El Dorado Springs: 1,300
Southwest Electric Cooperative, Bolivar: 480
Three Rivers Electric Cooperative, Linn: 100
Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Lancaster: 1,000
United Electric Cooperative, Maryville: 6,000

For more information, contact Jim McCarty at the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives — (573) 635-6857, ext. 3402, jmccarty@amec.org.

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