by Rick Lemonds, president & CEO
I’m sure we’re all familiar with the old Boy Scout motto: “Be prepared.” That’s two simple words, but a powerful message that’s as important today as it was when Lieutenant General Robert Baden-Powell, a British Army officer who would go on to found the Boy Scouts, adopted it as his credo in 1907.
At South Central Power Company, we have to be prepared any time of the night or day, 365 days of the year. Every September, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) runs a monthlong campaign to encourage all Americans to prepare for the possibility of an emergency. This year, Americans have endured severe storms, record-setting heat, wildfires, floods, and many other disasters. Yet in our busy everyday lives, sometimes it’s difficult to make time to prepare for the possibility of events such as these until we experience them first-hand.
As the leader of your local electric cooperative, I’d like to educate you a little about what we do to stay prepared for disasters and emergencies, and particularly, those that result in power outages. I also hope I can provide you with some tips to prepare for those same kinds of emergencies for you and your family as well.
How we prepare
First and foremost, we maintain 24-hour on-call schedules for all of our outage first responders, and staff our dispatch center 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Once dispatchers become aware of an outage that is caused by any reason, they first try to restore it remotely, but in the event they can’t, they reach the personnel on call to investigate and restore the outage. That also means we maintain a supply of the poles, transformers, wire, and other materials we may need to replace at a moment’s notice.
For widespread outages, such as those caused by a major storm, we have a detailed outage response plan that helps us quickly follow all the steps needed to restore power. The plan covers everything from securing sleeping arrangements for out-of-town crews to restaurants that can provide food in the field, so we can keep working around the clock.
In between storms, we never stop preparing. We trim trees around our lines and rights-of-way year-round, so that when storms do occur, we have done all we can do to minimize the damage to our system. We are also continuously investing in system hardening, technology to minimize outage duration, and more.
How you can be prepared
Though we do all we can to prevent outages, we know it’s a fact of life that following storms or other acts of God, they will occur. Having a plan for you and your family on how to respond in the event of an unexpected power outage is an important way you can be prepared, and minimize the impact. If you or someone in your family has special medical needs, for example, have extra supplies on hand, or a plan for a place you can go to get the care you need.
A disaster kit for your family will also help. Experts suggest including essentials like shelf-stable food, water, first aid items, and other necessities for every member of your household. You can find more tips online at ready.gov.
Finally, we ask that you take a few simple steps to ensure that you can get important information and updates about outages, because we believe proactive communication will help you know how to respond best during outage events. First, make sure we have up-to-date contact information. If you have online access to your account or the South Central app, you can verify details there and make sure we have an email address and cell phone number where we can reach you. You can also update your contact details by giving us a call during business hours at 800-282-5064. Finally, in today’s world of instant digital information, one of the best ways to follow outage restoration updates and progress is by giving us a like or follow on Facebook or Twitter. During major outage events, we provide frequent updates and information so you can stay informed.
So this September, make some time to “be prepared,” and know that we’re always preparing, too. For more outage preparation tips, visit southcentralpower.com.
To ensure you receive updates via text or email when there is an outage at your location, be sure to update your phone number and email address on your account. Log on to the South Central app or My Account online to check your number and make updates if needed.
From the September 2023 issue of Ohio Cooperative Living.