Ulysses, KS – May 2, 2017 – With the advances crews are making in the Pioneer Electric service territory, the number of meters without power has reduced to 4,200 meters. Unfortunately, we’ve had to increase our approximation of downed poles to 1,000. Linemen and Additional crews have been assisting with restoration and as a result power is being restored at a steady pace.
“We are very happy with progress made in our restoration efforts,” said Energy Services Supervisor, Rae Gorman. “It is our goal to address these outages as quickly and safely as possible. We want to ensure the safety of our members so we ask that they please avoid downed lines. For safety reasons, it is imperative that poles and lines lying on the ground be left alone. Never assume a line is not energized.”
As crews continue to address outages, the Cooperative is doing all in its power to ensure their safety. However, members of Pioneer Electric can also help in keeping the line safe for restoration crews.
“An ongoing concern for the line workers right now is improperly connected generators,” said Gorman. “A generator that is not installed correctly could electrocute our linemen; it is paramount for anybody operating a generator to have the connections checked by a qualified electrician and follow the owner’s manual for guidelines and operating instructions.”
Pioneer Electric Cooperative focuses on restoration efforts in the following sequence, many of which occur simultaneously. This sequence enables power restoration to public health and safety facilities and to the greatest number of locations in the shortest length of time:
- Public safety-related situations (such as de-energizing live lines);
- Emergency service facilities (hospitals, law enforcement, fire departments);
- Critical infrastructure (water and sewer facilities);
- Distribution feeders and subfeeders, the “backbone” of the power delivery system;
- Distribution tap lines, which connect the backbone to individual locations (neighborhood lines); and
- Distribution transformers and individual service lines.