Georgia Power’s Preparedness Efforts help reduce Outage Times for Customers

The average outage time for Georgia Power customers was 42% less than the national average in 2019, according to the most recent available data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. With severe storm weather possible throughout the year, the company’s comprehensive storm response plans help ensure the readiness of critical personnel and facilities necessary to continue providing the safe and reliable energy customers expect and deserve.  “We prepare every year knowing it will be nothing like the year before,” said Georgia Power’s Storm Center Director David Maske. “Our teams know firsthand the impacts severe weather can have on our customers, and we remain prepared to respond whenever we are called upon.”  In 2020 alone, the company responded to more than 26 severe weather events that impacted Georgia in a record-breaking storm season, with the most impactful storm Hurricane Zeta, which caused significant damage to Georgia Power’s distribution system leading to over 5,700 cases of damage and impacting over 822,000 customers. Zeta’s impacts were severe and were exacerbated when a strong cold front with gusty winds quickly followed behind the storm, less than 12 hours later. More than 4,000 Georgia Power personnel, with assistance from out-of-state utilities, were mobilized as part of the company’s restoration effort. Throughout 2020, Georgia Power crews responded to more than 22,650 outage events and replaced or repaired 8,500 spans of wire equal to nearly 400 miles of power lines.