The 41 dedicated employees at Pointe Coupee Electric Membership Corp. (PCEMC), along with help from others, completed restoring power to the last of 1,200 Co-op consumers in the Bayou Sorrel and Bayou Pigeon still without power on Thursday Sept 1st.

“While Pointe Coupee Electric’s 1,017 miles of power line across Pointe Coupee, W. Baton Rouge and Iberville parishes were spared the horrific damage that devastated other utilities to the east and south, it still took a beating,” commented PCEMC General Manager Jodie Cotten, Jr. “The patience and cooperation of our members during this disaster is greatly appreciated.”

At the height of the storm, PCEMC had 2,000 of its 9,700 customers out of service. “Extensive right-of-way work done since Hurricane Lili helped reduce outages during this storm. It’s also a credit to the professionalism and dedication of our employees from the linemen, service crews, right-of-way workers, warehouse staff, meter readers, to the office personnel that we were able to respond so effectively.”

PCEMC was assisted in its recovery by crews from Claiborne Electric Co-op from Homer/Farmerville, La. and Valley Electric Membership Corp. from Natchitoches with additional aid provided by Tony Whaley’s crew of Pike Electric Contractors.

PCEMC also dispatched some of its crews to aid DEMCO in Baton Rouge and Washington-St Tammany Electric Coop in Franklinton after all work was completed in its territory.

“Electric utilities also shared limited resources with evacuees from New Orleans and other victims in the Gulf Coast area. That slowed the logistical work and support required for utility service recovery, but preserving life and health comes first in these situations. Rescue and recovery takes priority over all other needs,” Cotten noted. “Louisiana’s Electric Cooperatives implemented an Emergency Work Plan as soon as Katrina appeared in the Gulf of Mexico, preparing manpower and equipment to respond as needed. Crews were on their way to aid fellow consumer-owned electric cooperatives repair damage before Hurricane Katrina had even made landfall.”

“An operation of this magnitude requires an ongoing partnership between electric cooperatives, contractors, local officials, emergency services and Public Service Commissions working together as a team. It simply can’t be done quickly and sometimes unexpected complications delay the process,” Cotten stressed. “It’s going to take time, but we’re going to get it done.”

Tony Waley, Pike Electric Pike Electric Crews Pike Electric Crews PCE crews working on lines James Wercham & BJ Lacour, assisting Johnny Plauche Lead Lineman Johnny Plauche cutting trees off of lines Equipment of the various crews that helped PCEMC Equipment of the various crews that helped PCEMC Equipment of the various crews that helped PCEMC Claiborne Electric Crews All workers who assisted for Hurricane Katrina Valley Electric Crews