Electric Companies Prepare for Possible Outages
By: Tyler Thomason
Updated: February 20, 2013
"When do we make the call for additional resources?"
A hypothetical question Mike Dodge, vice-president for Carroll Electric, asks himself Wednesday.
Well for some local electric companies, by Wednesday afternoon, those calls had already been made.
"This includes line personnel, tree personnel and damage assesors," says Peter Main, spokesperson for SWEPCO.
All to prepare for a freeze that could put some folks in the dark.
"Ice is one of the most serious dangers to the electric system," Main says.
SWEPCO serves 70,000 customers in Northwest Arkansas, and Main says they've called in about 600 extra workers.
"We brought in 1,100 people during the ice storm in 2009."
Added help is also being brought in over at Carroll Electric, a company that more than 50,000 Benton county customers rely on for power.
"We've had a good response from linemen across the state of other cooperatives," Dodge says.
"They're ready and willing to respond when they need to."
Electric companies say ice can be a dual threat; pushing down power lines, while also breaking tree branches.
"So it can have multiple effects and be very damaging to the electric system," Main says.
"The crews can go into the field when it's safe to do so."
