SCE&G Prepares For Irma Impact In South Carolina

Columbia, SC (WOLO)– The Midlands top power provider is keeping its eye on Irma.
During a news conference this morning SCE&G President of Operations, Keller Kissam
Warned customers to not have a false sense of safety with the cone of uncertainty moving westward.

“Right now, based upon the forecast, you could look at a three or four-day event. That’s why we encourage customers with a storm like this to have about 3-5 days worth of non-perishable food items and things of that nature,” Kissam said.  SCE&G said they estimated having more than 350 thousand customers impacted last week, but with the changes in the path of Irma, they are now thinking it might be closer to 50 or 70 thousand but he says regardless, they are not going to back down.

“Don’t a false sense of complacency, based upon the latest track of the hurricane,” Kissam said. 

SCE&G has already locked in 650 more crew members from states like Texas, Tennessee, Ohio, and Alabama, and that’s in addition to the 2 thousand storm recovery crews already in the state.

“The only way you can get the power back on is with backs, and knees, and trucks. That’s going to get the power back on. Those front line employees are critical to a recovery effort,” Kissam said.  

The biggest thing is safety, and SCE&G said to always assume any downed power line is still active and stay away. Be on the lookout for exposed underground power lines because of uprooted trees, and the smell of natural gas. Then communicate with them immediately to get certified crews out there.

“They put on a rubber glove and go out there and glove 23 thousand volts, for our customers to keep their power on. That’s what we do every day. And so we maintain this system every day in order for it to be prepared as it is to receive this onslaught of weather,” Kissam said. 

There are many ways to report outages. 

First, SCE&G said to verify and update your contact information with them by first logging into your account or calling them at 1-800-251-7234.

To report an outage by text, register for the text option online at www.sceg.com. Then login and look for “Account Options” feature. Then find “Activate Text Options” and follow the instructions. Once registered, if you experience an outage you can text the word “OUT” to 467234.

To report an outage from a mobile device, go to the internet from your internet-ready mobile device or phone and visit  www.sceg.com/mobile and click “Outages & Emergencies.”

To report an outage by phone, call 1-888-333-4465.

Also, make sure to follow @SCEGNews on Twitter and Facebook for most recent updates.