Last Updated on February 17, 2025 4:44 pm
Lenoir, North Carolina (4 pm Monday, February 17, 2025) – Blue Ridge Energy line technicians and assisting crews have completed restoration of all outages caused by last week’s ice storm, while crews continue working to restore the final nine outages caused by Sunday’s high wind gusts.
Blue Ridge Energy thanks over 130 line technicians and tree workers who answered the call to help: New River Light and Power, Rutherford EMC, Energy United, Union Power Cooperative, Piedmont Electric, Four County EMC, Surry-Yadkin EMC, Randolph EMC, Pee Dee Electric, Pike Corp., Lucas Tree, Kendall Tree and Xylem.
Damage from last week’s freezing rain and ice led to widespread, extensive damage and outages, affecting 23,048 members primarily in Ashe, Alleghany, Watauga and Wilkes counties. Over 800 locations on the electric system were damaged and more than 150 broken power poles had to be replaced.
Total number of members affected by county were: Ashe: 9,406; Watauga: 8,481; Alleghany: 3,336; Wilkes: 1,402; Caldwell: 287; and Avery: 131 with five from surrounding areas.
Members should report outages by calling PowerLine at 1-800-448-2383, by using the Blue Ridge Energy mobile app, or, by texting OUT to 70216. Reports of outages and downed lines cannot be accepted over social media. Please report these using one of the options above to be sure it is entered into the cooperative’s outage management system.
Outage status is available 24/7 on the cooperative’s live outage map at www.BlueRidgeEnergy.com and on the mobile app.
Blue Ridge Energy serves some 80,000 members in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, and Alleghany counties as well as parts of Avery, Alexander and Wilkes counties. Learn more at www.BlueRidgeEnergy.com or on the cooperative’s social media on Facebook, X and Instagram.
