SMECO Crews Follow Sandy’s Destructive Wake
Posted by SMECO
Pax II
SMECO sends six crews to assist BGE with power restoration. Pictured are Ron Rennick, Bernie Clark, Robby Abell, Joe Day, Harry Jackson, Chris Winkler, Scott Cox, Jamie Thompson, Charles Mattingly, Jesse Pike, Charlie Hayden, Chris Gallahan, and T.J. Bowman. Not pictured is Lonnie Stewart.
At 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct, 31, six Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) two-man line crews, a foreman, and a safety supervisor headed north to assist BGE with restoring power to the 80,000 customers who remain without electric service following Hurricane Sandy.
Austin J. Slater, Jr., SMECO president and CEO, explained, “We checked with our sister co-ops in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to see if they needed help, but they have not requested crews. BGE contacted us this morning, and we were more than happy to be able to send some of our co-op personnel to assist. That’s part of what being a cooperative is all about, helping your neighbors keep their lights on.”
SMECO had restored service to all of its customer-members by Tuesday night after assembling a workforce of 555 field personnel in preparation for the storm. SMECO has also released the contract crews from Pike that are normally assigned to the co-op. These 17 “native” crews will assist Con Edison in New York along with additional Pike “out of town” crews that worked with SMECO following the hurricane. Pike is sending 21 crews, 21 line trucks, 28 bucket trucks, 22 pick-up trucks, and 99 personnel. SMECO also released 11 Penn Line tree crews to assist Potomac Edison/First Energy.
