GreyStone crews assist neighboring co-op

Four GreyStone Power crews composed of 21 linemen and lineworkers headed northeast of Atlanta this morning to assist Jackson Electric Membership Corporation (EMC) with power restoration. Jackson EMC, the largest electric cooperative in Georgia, serves more than 215,400 meters and is headquartered in Jefferson, Ga., 50 miles northeast of Atlanta.

As of 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jackson EMC was experiencing 1,744 outages affecting 58,625 customers across their service area. It is one of the worst ice storms in Jackson EMC’s history, with downed limbs and trees as well as broken poles causing extensive outages. Hardest hit in Jackson’s territory is Hall County, where nearly 60 percent of their members were without power as of 9 a.m.

Jackson EMC has called in 81 outside crews from contractors and neighboring utilities, including GreyStone. Conditions permitting, they hoped to have power restored within 24 hours.

Electric membership corporations (EMCs) throughout the country work together following storms, and linemen sometimes travel across state lines to help restore power after major damage to power lines and equipment. When faced with a large number of power outages, electric cooperatives aim to restore power to the greatest number of members in the shortest time possible, therefore, cases where the most members are affected take priority.

GreyStone Power serves more than 108,000 members in portions of eight counties, including Douglas, Paulding, Fulton, Cobb, Carroll, Bartow, Fayette and Coweta counties. Learn more at www.greystonepower.com.

PHOTO: Line Foreman Andre Reed is one of 21 GreyStone employees who headed to a neighboring electric co-op Tuesday morning to assist with power restoration.