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Hurricane Ian Mutual Aid

      

Wisconsin public power crews requested to help with Florida hurricane recovery
> Read the details in this news release.

Tuesday, Oct. 4, 9:00 a.m.: NSBU took a planned outage overnight to safely repair damages, shutting off power beginning at 1:00 a.m. local time. Wisconsin crews assisted with that scheduled outage and will wrap up their work later this morning. They will be staying overnight in Daytona Beach to be well rested for the return trip to Wisconsin. They are expected to be back home by late afternoon on Thursday, Oct. 6. 
Monday, Oct. 3, 9:00 a.m.:  Power has been restored to most areas but more repair work is needed. The crews are expected to be released to return to Wisconsin early Tuesday morning.  
Friday, Sept. 30, 3:00 p.m.: Our crews have arrived in New Smyrna Beach and were immediately dispatched to begin with damage assessments. 
Thursday, Sept. 29, 8:00 a.m.: More than three dozen lineworkers from 23 communities began the trek to New Smyrna Beach at 7:00 this morning. They'll make a stop in Chattanooga, Tennessee, en route to central Florida by mid-day Friday. Travel safely!  
Wednesday, Sept. 28, 10:30 a.m.: Our Wisconsin crews are being redirected to provide support to the municipal utility in New Smyrna Beach, Florida (just south of Daytona Beach). They will depart Wisconsin early Thursday as planned.  
Wednesday, Sept. 28, 7:00 a.m.: Workers from 22 Wisconsin communities are scheduled to depart for Kissimmee, Florida, on Thursday morning and expect to arrive by mid-day on Friday to begin helping restore power in central Florida; at least 41 lineworkers are making the trip and are expected to be needed for up to two weeks. 
Tuesday, Sept. 27, 3:00 p.m.: The Florida Municipal Electric Association has requested lineworkers and equipment from Wisconsin to assist in the community of Kissimmee, where Wisconsin crews have provided mutual aid before. MEUW is coordinating with its municipal utility members and expects to deploy about 30 lineworkers to Florida later in the week. 


About mutual aid: Mutual aid is electric utilities helping each other in times of need. Utilities that want to give and get help for power restoration after a disaster are part of a network of community-owned electric companies. When (and even before) a major disaster hits a utility’s territory and the utility knows that its own crews and equipment won’t be enough to restore power quickly, it calls for mutual aid. Other utilities in the network respond with what they can offer. 

> Check out this brief video explaining the mutual aid process (Courtesy: American Public Power Association)
Wisconsin crews will be assisting New Smyrna Beach Utilities
> Storm updates from NSBU Facebook page
> Link to NSBU Website

HomeNSBU is one of 33 community-owned utilities in Florida (compared to 81 in Wisconsin). NSBU owns, operates and manages the municipal electric system in an area that is  71.9 square miles, of which 34 square miles are inside the New Smyrna Beach city limits. NSBU serves approximately 30,000 residential and commercial customers. 
> After Wisconsin crews provided mutual aid to Kissimmee Utility Authority in Florida during Hurricane Irma in September 2017, the utility produced this video.  








 

Lineworkers from these 23 municipal utilities across Wisconsin are taking part in Ian-related mutual aid: 
Arcadia
Black Earth
Cedarburg
Elkhorn
Fennimore
Hartford
Jefferson
Kaukauna
Marshfield
Mazomanie
Muscoda
New Lisbon
Manitowoc
Oconomowoc
Oconto Falls
Plymouth
Rice Lake
Richland Center
Shawano
Stoughton
Sun Prairie
Waunakee
Wisconsin Rapids




Media inquiries should be directed to Scott Reigstad at (608) 225-0881