Alabama Power earns industry recognition for storm response
Alabama Power crews worked to restore power following Hurricane Sally. (Dennis Washington / Alabama NewsCenter)
In a record-setting storm season, Alabama Power achieved industry recognition for its storm response efforts.
The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) recently presented Alabama Power with an Emergency Assistance Award and an Emergency Recovery Award for its outstanding power restoration efforts after Hurricane Laura in August 2020 and Hurricane Sally in September 2020.
EEI gives Emergency Assistance and Emergency Recovery Awards to select member companies to recognize extraordinary efforts to assist other electric companies’ power restoration efforts, and to restore power to their own customers after service disruptions caused by severe weather conditions or other natural events. The winners were chosen by a panel of judges following an international nomination process, and the awards were presented during EEI’s virtual Winter Board and Chief Executives Meeting.
Following Hurricane Laura’s hit of the Louisiana coast in August, more than 350 Alabama Power team members traveled west to help restore power in east Texas and Louisiana. Crews worked for two weeks through extreme heat and humidity to help rebuild utility infrastructure in affected communities.
Alabama Power teams at home also supported the effort by providing logistics assistance and sending needed materials and supplies, such as transformers, pole hardware and switches, to industry partners during the mutual assistance effort.
In September, Hurricane Sally became the first hurricane to make landfall on the Alabama coast in two decades. More than 680,000 outages occurred as a result, with Alabama Power performing a multiday restoration effort to replace damaged infrastructure, including more than 400 poles, more than 500 transformers and more than 1,500 spans of power lines, and restore service for customers.
“Over the past year, many of our nation’s electric companies and their customers have endured historic storms and wildfires and other significant weather-related events,” said EEI President Tom Kuhn. “Working around the clock to restore power safely and quickly to customers and deploying mutual assistance crews to support impacted companies are hallmarks of the electric power industry. When disasters strike, impacted and neighboring electric companies are quick to assess damage and to respond and assist with restoration.
“I congratulate and applaud Alabama Power for demonstrating continued commitment to the customers and to the communities it serves,” Kuhn said. “In the midst of a global pandemic, and often in the most hazardous of conditions, Alabama Power and its frontline employees worked around-the-clock to restore service safely and quickly. Alabama Power is exceptionally deserving of this prestigious award.”
