Little Rock, Ark. — The Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas are dispatching 188 line workers and utility vehicles, along with construction and right-of-way equipment, to assist South Louisiana Electric Cooperative of Houma, La., as they work to restore power outages that were caused by Hurricane Ida.
The Louisiana cooperative reports that 94 percent of its 19,000 members are currently without electrical service.
Crews from Arkansas Valley Electric Cooperative of Ozark, Arkansas Electric Cooperatives, Inc. (AECI) of Little Rock, C&L Electric Cooperative of Star City, Carroll Electric Cooperative of Berryville, Clay County Electric Cooperative of Corning, Craighead Electric Cooperative of Jonesboro, North Arkansas Electric Cooperative of Salem, Ozarks Electric Cooperative of Fayetteville, Petit Jean Electric Cooperative of Clinton, South Central Arkansas Electric of Arkadelphia, Southwest Arkansas Electric Cooperative of Texarkana and Woodruff Electric Cooperative of Forrest City will provide construction, repair and right-of-way assistance.
In addition to the crews and equipment, AECI will ship a substantial amount of power line infrastructure materials to cooperatives and municipal electric systems that were devastated by Hurricane Ida.
The Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas comprise 17 electric distribution cooperatives; Arkansas Electric Cooperatives, Inc. (AECI), a Little Rock-based cooperative that provides services to the distribution cooperatives; and Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. (AECC), a generation and transmission cooperative. The distribution cooperatives provide electricity to approximately 600,000 homes, farms and businesses in Arkansas and surrounding states.
This article is a press release from the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas.