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All power company experts agree; outages frustrate Cherokee County residents and business owners.
“Our power goes out quite frequently,” said local resident Victoria Mabry, who lives on the eastern side of the county. “Food thaws or ruins in the refrigerator, and meals can’t be cooked.”
One of her elderly neighbors relies on supplemental oxygen.
“She had to be taken to the hospital [during the last power outage],” Mabry lamented.
Duke Energy, which serves Mabry’s area, provides an outage map for customers to track how close workers are to their spot on the grid.
“We want to work to ensure that every community we serve enjoys high level of reliability and service,” said Jeff Brooks, communications public relations manager for Duke Energy. “We have seen some outages that have been somewhat frequent in the Andrews area over the last few months, even up to about two years ago.”
His company isn’t alone. Andrew Westmoreland, assistant superintendent for Murphy Electric Power Board, explained the nature of power outages.
“Most of our outages can be attributed to trees, car wrecks or animals,” he said. “Occasionally, it’s equipment failure.”
Like all the local power companies, Westmoreland said he has staff on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, it’s hard to predict restore times because each scenario is different.
“If it’s a whole power system failure, that a different repair than a transformer switch,” Westmoreland said.
Challenging geography
What all workers agree on is western North Carolina’s weather and geography challenge power companies more than in any other area of the state
“A big factor, and probably the No. 1 reason [for outages], is trees and limbs falling on the lines. This can cause power lines, and even the utility poles, to break,” said Kelly Crawford, marketing director for Blue Ridge Mountain Electric Membership Corp., which serves the western end of Cherokee County.
“Trees outside of rights of way contribute to outages, as well especially during storms that produce high winds. BRMEMC maintains over 6,300 miles of line, and our right-of-way crews work year-round maintaining the 6,300 miles of rights of way.”
Crawford said her company pays attention by reviewing outage data to determine the best course of action for resolving repeated outages in specific areas.
“Linemen, engineers, dispatch personnel and additional employees keep an eye on the grid to see if there are any lines, poles, transformers, meters, etc., that need repaired, replaced or upgraded,” she said.
“The same goes for substations. It’s a continuous effort to keep the power grid up and running efficiently.”
Westmoreland joins Crawford in her quest to co-exist with trees.
“The best preventive program we have to decrease outages is tree maintenance,” he said.
Brooks also attributed many of Duke Energy’s power outages in Andrews to tree-related issues.
“We are trimming trees year-round. Vegetation-based reliable improvements are an important part of the work we do. It’s an essential part of keeping power reliability,” he said. “In western North Carolina, we have a lot of trees, so that’s something that we have to continue to balance and it will be an ongoing effort.”
Most customers are less concerned with the power company’s procedures than simply having access to reliable power. Pam and Duron Smith, owners of Cups & Cones in Andrews, said power outages cut into their profits.
“We can be without power for about six hours,” Duron said, “but after that, we have to use a generator.”
Local business owners can never recoup the cost of inventory or revenue lost during an outage.
Potential solutions
Unfortunately, some of the go-to remedies can bring just as many headaches to the people relying on the grid. Burying the cables underground, for example, is not cost effective, according to Westmoreland.
“It’s not as easy to restore,” he said. “People dig underground, and the land shifts. It’s a quicker fix when it’s above ground.”
Something as simple as digging out a tree stump could disrupt power, causing crews to dig up the line to make a repair. Westmoreland also shot down solar options.
“Solar lines won’t sustain 24/7,” he said, “It’s not reliable. It is through certain days, that works great, but they still have to have a backbone to it.”
Westmoreland said despite battery-stored energy, there isn’t enough solar in this area to power a typical house.
“If it starts raining, there’s not enough battery back up to turn the whole time,” he said.
Even houses with solar don’t completely disconnect from the power grid. “They still maintain their power lines,” Westmoreland said, “they are just buying less power.”
Mabry and others may have to wait for technological advances in power distribution before they can find relief from the outages.
“My husband and I have managed fine, but I feel badly for the elderly, infirmed or families with small children,” she said.
Brooks said Duke Energy has made some upgrades to some substation equipment.
“[Those improvements] have helped to reduce some outages from that substation,” he said, adding that residents can help decrease outages by driving safely.
“We’ve seen an increase in number of car accidents hitting poles due to distracted driving,” he said.
Brooks wants Andrews residents to know Duke Energy has not forgotten them.
“It is on our radar,” he said. “We recognize that there are opportunities to improve in that area, and we are looking for ways in the coming months and years ahead to continue to make improvements.”