Issues with outage reporting system being addressed
Power is now fully restored to all Habersham EMC members throughout Northeast Georgia. Crews completed restoration efforts Tuesday, five days after Winter Storm Benji hit. At the height of the outage, about 16,000 of the utility’s members in six counties were without power.
Members still experiencing outages should report them by phone by calling (706) 754 -2114, (706) 865 – 4362 or (800) 640 -6812.
Reporting problems
This is the second major storm resulting in widespread power outages in the region in the past three months. On September 11, 2017, Tropical Storm Irma knocked out electricity to homes and businesses across the state. At the height of that outage, HEMC reported approximately 25,000 members without power.
The lingering effects of Irma were felt by HEMC members after Benji. A press release from the utility states, “During the restoration efforts, it became apparent that issues with the outage reporting system had not been fully resolved following Tropical Storm Irma. While efforts were made to offset these problems during the past few days, we could not fully address them in the midst of the large number of outages.”
There were problems with HEMC’s phone system and outage reporting system during and after Winter Storm Benji. During the highest call volumes, members were unable to get through to report their outages. HEMC’s online outage reporting form also was not operating “as efficiently as possible.” The form was disabled to prevent further issues during Benji.
HEMC says it’s addressing those problems. An upgrade to the existing telephone system will be implemented by December 31, 2017. The upgrade will provide more incoming lines and should “substantially limit or eliminate that problem in the future.”
Now that power has been fully restored, the utility says it will conduct a “complete and thorough evaluation” of the current outage management system.
(file photo)
