Appalachian Power says some of its customers may remain in the dark as late as Friday evening. The utility says while half the people who lost service from Monday’s snowstorm now have power restored, others may have to wait another three days. Apco says contractors from other states are assisting its crews in efforts to get everyone back on line, and they are giving first priority to those outages affecting the most customers.
Appalachian Power Storm Response Update
Tuesday, January 4, 2022 – 11:15 a.m.
Situation
Yesterday morning as much as eight inches of heavy, wet snow fell across Appalachian Power’s Virginia service area, causing damage that left more than 45,000 customers without electric service.
Outages
More than half of the customers who lost power as a result of the storm have had service restored.
Around 19,000 customers are currently without electric service.
The majority of storm-related outages are in areas that saw significant accumulation of heavy wet snow.
Counties with the most customer outages related to storm damage include:
Amherst, 4,010
Albemarle, 2,948
Bedford, 2,277
Franklin, 1,982
City of Lynchburg, 1,862
Nelson, 1,759
Henry, 1,345
Storm Response Efforts
Nearly 500 employees and contractors from across Appalachian Power’s service are working to restore electric service.
Additional crews have been secured from Ohio, as neighboring utilities are also dealing with significant restoration efforts.
Damage assessment is ongoing, and some of that is taking place using drones and helicopters.
Workers are repairing damage on outages affecting large numbers of customers.
Employees are observing COVID-19 safety precautions as they go about restoring service in order to protect themselves, our customers and the public.
Restoration Estimates
Most customers with outages related to the storm should have service restored before or by the following times:
- Wednesday night: Floyd, Giles and Montgomery counties
- Thursday afternoon: Botetourt, Franklin and Roanoke counties, as well as the City of Roanoke
- Thursday night: Henry, Patrick counties
- Friday evening: Albemarle, Amherst, Bedford, Nelson counties and the City of Lynchburg
