Rolling Hills Electric Cooperative, Inc. is grappling with widespread power outages affecting numerous members following a severe storm on March 19th. The cooperative has released detailed updates regarding restoration efforts, outlining varying estimated times of restoration across their service area.
According to the latest update from Rolling Hills, the storm caused significant damage to their electrical system, impacting hundreds of poles and miles of line. Restoration efforts are being hampered by muddy conditions, which are slowing progress despite favorable weather for work.
Substation and District Updates:
- Hunter Substation: Power is expected to be restored today.
- Covert Substation: Restoration is not anticipated today.
- Ellsworth District: Residential services are expected to be restored today, while non-residential services may face longer delays.
- Belleville District: Restoration is expected today, with crews then moving to assist in the Lovewell area.
- Lovewell Substation: Outages are expected to persist until at least tomorrow.
- Esbon Substation: Work is ongoing on the east circuit, with a large portion expected to have power restored today. Services west of Esbon and north of Smith Center should prepare for outages until mid-to-late next week, partly due to damage to the power supplier’s system and difficult road conditions.
- Osborne Substation: Crews are continuing work in this area today.
- Alton Substation: Restoration for the city of Alton is estimated for today, while other areas are uncertain.
- Cedar Substation: Partial restoration is expected today after a substation transformer replacement.
A Message to our Members:
One of our main priorities at Rolling Hills is to provide safe and reliable power—no matter the event, this is our driving force. Unfortunately, due to a severe storm, we have sustained a significant amount of damage to our system which is affecting a large portion of our membership. Let us assure you, we are doing everything we can to restore power as safely and quickly as possible. We never take lightly the impact that outages have on our members, but we also know our members understand the severity of the storm that took place on March 19th.
The primary question is, “When will my power be back on and how are you accomplishing the restoration?”
Per our major storm response planning, our first steps are assessing the damage so we can prioritize restoration, determine needs for additional linemen and mutual aid, and acquire the necessary materials from our suppliers to rebuild/restore. On one hand, the weather is cooperating with good work conditions, however the significant challenge as we rebuild/restore is the mud; this definitely impacts restoration timelines and increases the difficulty of restoration. We know we have multiple areas across our system that are affected which equates to hundreds of poles and miles of line down. However, as the storm was still in progress, we were already calling upon neighboring cooperatives and contractors to assist us in our efforts to rebuild/restore. A big thank you to Ark Valley Electric Cooperative, DSO Electric Cooperative, Inc., Bluestem Electric Cooperative, Premier Power, and former employees for their quick response in helping us increase our workforce and equipment capacity. Many thanks to Prairie Land Electric Cooperative, Inc. for their coordination with us as they work to repair damages to their system.
Determining restoration timelines during these events is always challenging, however we ask that you follow our social media and website for the most current updates and timelines.
We would like to thank all the people who have assisted with pulling out trucks and restaurants for staying open late to feed crews a warm meal. We can’t thank you enough.
We would also like to thank our members for rising to the challenge and joining us as we respond to this event. At Rolling Hills, we value you and are responding with everything we have to get power restored.
