System safely restoring power after Zeta
<p>Southern Company resources continued to make significant progress in safely restoring electric service to the more than 1.5 million customers at all three electric operating companies whose power was disrupted by Hurricane Zeta. Working around the clock, crews by Monday had restored electricity to more than 1.4 million customers and were working diligently to restore service to customers who remained without power.</p>
<p>Responders from across the system and those from two dozen states under the industry’s mutual assistance program worked in partnership with state and local agencies to recover from the latest major storm in this year’s record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season.</p>
<p>This collaboration to restore power safely and quickly after storms is a hallmark of Southern Company’s commitment to the communities we are privileged to serve.</p>
<p>Some 6,400 resources from 22 states and as far away as Canada were among those responding to get the lights back on.</p>
<p>Service has been restored to more than 90% of the 504,000 <a href="https://alabamanewscenter.com/2020/11/02/service-restored-to-more-than-90-of-alabama-power-customers/" target="_blank">Alabama Power</a> customers affected by this storm. The company expects 95% of affected customers to have service by Tuesday. Restoration for the hardest hit areas will extend later into the week.</p>
<p>Georgia Power has restored power to 99% of their 806,000 customers impacted. While work is nearly complete, all personnel in the field remain focused on reconnecting customers who remain without power and are able to receive electric service.</p>
<p>Mississippi Power crews continue to work safely to restore power to customers. Power has been restored to nearly 99% of impacted customers and the company expects to complete restorations by midnight on Monday night.</p>
<p>Teams worked safely to repair broken poles and down lines after Zeta brought down trees and scattered other debris. So far, more than 1,500 poles, nearly 5,800 spans of wire and over 600 transformers have been replaced.</p>
<p>The major restoration effort brought together resources from across the Southern Company system.</p>
<p>In Operations, Technical and Project Solutions had nearly 50 storm evaluators assisting operating companies, and Transmission Planning aided storm-damage assessment in the field. The Supply Chain Management team established a dozen material staging sites and made scores of shipments from the system’s material distribution centers. Southern Linc deployed 18 mobile assets in Alabama to support communications capabilities. Generation and Fleet Operations made preparations as needed to prioritize safety of personnel and reliability of the system in coordination with Bulk Power Operations and the Power Delivery Control Centers.</p>
<p>In Zeta’s wake, PowerSecure successfully switched 67 sites to backup power in the impacted areas. Southern Company Gas had prepared its facilities that were in Zeta’s path for potential storm impacts and was able to return to normal operations quickly after the storm passed.</p>
