As of Oct. 5, Georgia Power has restored power to more than 1.3 million customers following Hurricane Helene – including more than 80% of Augustans.
That figure represents 95% of all customers who were impacted by the most destructive hurricane in the company’s history, according to a news release.
“Intensive restoration efforts remain underway to reconnect customers in the hardest hit areas of the state, notably Augusta where 80% of impacted customers had been reconnected as of Saturday morning and work was ongoing to reconnect the approximately 50,000 customers who remained without power,” the release said. “While damage and treacherous conditions remain, teams are working around the clock and will remain in the field until every customer who can accept power is reconnected.”
“Our work isn’t done until every customer who can receive power has it – we want our customers to know that commitment is shared by everyone on our team,” said Kim Greene, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power. “We have matched the devastation of Hurricane Helene with an army of thousands of lineworkers, who continue to work through fallen trees and miles of broken power poles and downed lines to bring light back to Georgia homes and businesses. I’m grateful for their tireless work to reconnect so many customers so quickly, and the continued resilience and patience of our customers and communities.”
Hurricane Helene caused widespread destruction across the state of Georgia – from Atlanta’s northern suburbs, to Columbus, to Albany, to Valdosta and Savannah.
More than 20,000 personnel have contributed to the company’s rapid response to the hurricane and remain engaged with crews working their way through the power system efficiently and effectively to repair extreme damage and restore power to the most customers with every repair made. In many cases, the damage to infrastructure has been so severe that teams are essentially rebuilding sections of the grid and not just repairing specific elements.
Helene’s destruction required the repair of replacement of more than 8,300 power poles; replacing 21,000 spans of wire equivalent to about 1,000 miles; replacing or repairing more than 2,000 transformers and removing more than 3,200 trees from power lines.
.Georgia Power continues to post updated estimated restoration times for communities on its Outage Map.
The company will continue to post updated information throughout the remainder of the restoration process and will make every effort to return power to customers sooner than expected. However, as new damage in previously inaccessible areas becomes apparent, restoration efforts may take longer than originally estimated. Customers are encouraged to check the Outage Map often for the latest information and not rely on possibly inaccurate details they may see from non-company sources, the news release continued.
Up to 8,000 customer homes may not be able to be safely reconnected due electric service entrance damage. The company cannot repair or restore power to homes with damaged service entrances and encourages customers to call (877) 749-3931 to request a service entrance repair or contact a certified electrician in their area. Read more here.
