PEC, CTEC restoring electricity
Pedernales Electric Cooperative and Central Texas Electric Cooperative have been able to restore power to a bulk of their members and customers, but their crews are still diligently working to get electricity to everyone. CTEC Facebook photo
Highland Lakes electric providers have continued to make major inroads in restoring power to residents. But, officials pointed out, some customers might still be experiencing outages.
“At this time, 99 percent of (Pedernales Electric Cooperative) members have power,” according to a PEC statement sent to its members the morning of Friday, Feb. 19.
On Monday, Feb. 15, Central Texas Electric Cooperative was reporting 86 percent of their Llano County members without electricity, but by late Thursday, Feb. 18, that had slipped below 10 percent. And crews continued to make progress overnight into Friday morning.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas suspended the call for rolling blackouts on Thursday. Some Highland Lakes residents are still without power due to damage caused by ice and cold temperatures to lines, poles, and other infrastructure.
CTEC estimates that more than 500 of its poles were downed due to ice and weather.
“CTEC crews continue to work diligently to address outages,” CTEC officials stated. “Unfortunately, because of the amount of damage to infrastructure, we cannot give members who are out of power an estimated time of restoration.”
They are anticipating crews from other utility companies to arrive to assist with repairs.
Even if CTEC crews restore power to an area, some locations may still be without electricity.
“By letting our members know that an area should be restored and those in that area let us know they are not, helps us pinpoint where additional problems can be,” according to a CTEC Facebook post.
CTEC members can call 1-800-900-2832 to report outages or log in through their SmartHub accounts. Members can also follow the CTEC Facebook page for regular updates.
PEC members still without power can call 888-883-3379 or log in through their SmartHub accounts to report outages.
Both entities thanked people who dropped off food to crews.