During a threatening thunderstorm or dangerous ice storm, many of us take cover to safely ride out the weather. But lineworkers head straight into the storms and don’t stop working until power is restored. Not only do our lineworkers help our customers, but they also help others when disasters strike as part of industry mutual assistance programs. Our company is involved in several mutual assistance programs that provide access to hundreds of crews from more than 20 states when mobilizing for large storm restoration efforts. We are called to help our partners, and we can call on them to help us. These partnerships have paid off countless times, and we were honored earlier this year for our efforts.
The company was given the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Emergency Response Award for the mutual support we provided to CenterPoint Energy after a destructive line of thunderstorms and tornadoes moved through the Houston, Texas, area in May 2024. Then less than eight weeks later, we helped after Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Houston. In total, our mutual assistance teams spent 18 days assisting in the restoration efforts from both historic events.
The Emergency Response Awards recognize recovery and assistance efforts of electric companies following service disruptions caused by extreme weather or other natural events. The winners were chosen by a panel of judges following an international nomination process.
Lineman Appreciation Day is April 18, and we want to thank our employees and utility partners for their work on overhead and underground power lines, in substations and on equipment spanning our entire electric system. Our company has more than 500 employee and resident-contractor line technicians spanning more than 40 crew centers. They build, operate and maintain equipment and infrastructure that deliver power to approximately 1 million electric customers in Kentucky and Virginia.
