Published December 3, 2010
5:00 am.  
Johnson, VT- Approximately 3,975 Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) members remain without power Friday morning, after extreme winds hammered the area on Wednesday and wreaked havoc with VEC’s system. The extent of the damage was much worse than originally anticipated with reports of over 70 broken poles, downed trees and power lines.

“Crews will be in full force on Friday as restoration efforts continue,” said Jeffrey Wright, Chief Operating Officer. “We’ve been able to more than double our resources since yesterday securing additional crews from Burlington Electric, Green Mountain Power and New Hampshire, and several more contract crews. We now have four times the amount of resources than we had yesterday. The additional resources make it possible to have crews assigned to all outage areas today.” 

VEC expects to make significant headway on Friday and anticipates that most members in Hinesburg, Fairfax, Bakersfield, Williston, Jericho and Underhill will have power restored by the end of the day. It is foreseeable that approximately 1500 members will still be without power going into the weekend however, restoration efforts will continue until all members have power. 

VEC urges members to stay away from downed power lines as they may still be energized and could cause serious injuries or even death. Call the Coop to report downed lines at 1-800-832-2667. 

For up to date information please go to the outage center on our website at www.vermontelectric.coop/outage.