Power Update from Sioux Valley Energy

Yesterday we received a press release from Sioux Valley Energy.  The photo that was attached was a picture of some of the desperate conditions south of Luverne Minnesota.  We posted the picture to our Kickin' Country Facebook Wednesday and it was 'shared' over 500 times.  First of all, we would like to thank Carrie for sending the picture.

Just in this press release from Sioux Valley Electric and wanted to pass it along. It came from Carrie Law, Director of Communications and Government Relations.

Sioux Valley is reporting that all but 688 members have had their power restored, down from the highest point on April 11 of over 10,000.  Electric cooperatives from across the state of South Dakota sent extra lineworkers in to assist in the restoration efforts.  The assisting cooperatives include: Cam Wall Electric (Selby, SD), Whetstone Valley Electric (Milbank, SD), Northern Electric (Bath, SD), Kingsbury Electric (DeSmet, SD), Moreau-Grand Electric (Timber Lake, SD), Lake Region Electric (Webster, SD) and Cherry-Todd Electric (Mission, SD).  May Construction Inc. and Legacy Power Line Inc. are also assisting.

 

Officials estimate approximately 200 poles went down from ice and wind during the storm and found significant damage to the cooperative’s substations and electric lines.  General Manager, Tim McCarthy, says while the crews are optimistic about a quick restoration process, there will likely be members who won’t have power until this weekend.

 

“Today has been a good day in terms of getting power back on to our members, many of whom haven’t had power since Tuesday.  But in reality, we still have a lot of structures on the ground which have to be rebuilt.  We hope all South Dakota members have power by Saturday night and all Minnesota members by Sunday night,”  McCarthy added, “Our distribution system was basically decimated in portions of Rock County in Minnesota.”

 

Cooperative employees have been taking phone calls around the clock to assist members.  Since the start of the storm on Tuesday more than 6,300 calls have been answered.

 

“I think people are a little surprised to get a real person on the phone when they call to report an outage but they have appreciated being able to tell someone what is going on at their residence and in some cases just get information about the process of restoring power,” said McCarthy.

Outage Information for Sioux Valley Energy Available at www.siouxvalleyenergy.com and https://www.facebook.com/svecoop

Sioux Valley Energy, a Touchstone Energy Cooperative, is a member owned-utility, providing electric service at cost-based rates to over 22,000 homes, farms, businesses and industries in a seven-county area of east-central South Dakota and southwest Minnesota.