(Photo: http://www.firstelectric.coop)
First Electric Cooperative employees and contractors restored power to more than 3,000 people today. At this time, approximately 17,000 members remain without power.
In the Benton district, processes are in place that could restore power to approximately 7,500 members in the next four to six hours. First Electric appreciates the work Entergy has done this afternoon to repair the transmission line so that the cooperative can energize our substations.
In the Jacksonville district, crews made headway by restoring service to Shiloh, North Lake, Base Meadows, Falcon and Arbor Oaks subdivisions. They will work into the evening restoring power to the remaining subdivisions in the district. Tomorrow crews will focus on restoring service to isolated outages.
In the Perryville district, crews should be able to reduce the outages in half by morning.
First Electric remains cautiously optimistic that all members who are able to receive electricity will be restored by Friday night if weather permits.
"On behalf of First Electric's directors and employees, I would like to thank our members for their patience as we work to restore everyone following Christmas Day's winter storms," President/CEO Don Crabbe said.
Members may report an outage by calling 888-827-3322 or the cooperative's main line at 800-489-7405. More information will be provided at www.firstelectric.coop and at www.facebook.com/FirstElectric as the restoration continues. Due to phone service interruptions, the Outage Viewer is not reflecting real-time data at this time.
(Source: First Electric)