Electric Co-op Today

Co-ops from Texas to Maine are preparing for the Atlantic hurricane season, and even the most experienced hands are reviewing emergency response plans for the season, which runs June 1-Nov. 30.

Peace River Electric Cooperative staffers share information during the co-op’s annual hurricane drill. (Photo by: Peace River Electric Cooperative)

At Peace River Electric Co-op’s Wauchula, Fla., headquarters, key employees from each department spent all day May 21 testing elements of their plan with the help of a crisis management team.

“The outside consultant helped us identify areas which needed to be strengthened or updated to take advantage of improvements in technology,” said Nell Withers McCauley, the co-op’s chief marketing and member services officer.

Peace River and other co-ops work closely with their statewide co-op associations on storm preparations, response and recovery efforts. The statewides are in close contact with their member co-ops and can coordinate the shipment of emergency supplies, the assignment of crews and the logistics needed for major recovery efforts.

Many of Peace River’s employees have lived and worked through numerous hurricanes over the years. In 2004, the co-op’s consumer-members were hit by hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne within weeks of each other.

For the drill, participants were all at the Wauchula headquarters, role-playing the measures they would oversee throughout the co-op’s 10-county service territory from a week prior to projected landfall, to the storm hitting, and then to full restoration and clean-up.

“Departments worked together to resolve problems and restore power as quickly and efficiently as possible,” said Jerry Twiggs, chief engineer and emergency response manager for Peace River.

If the co-op is actually hit by a hurricane this season, the statewide organization, other co-ops in Florida and NRECA member co-ops in other states would respond quickly to calls for assistance, Twiggs said. “We have the availability of hundreds of line workers and support staff from our 900 sister electric cooperatives all over the country.”

Tags: Hurricanes, Preparedness, Weather