Electric co-ops work together following first major winter storm of 2025

More than 110,000 electric cooperative consumer-members lost power the first weekend of 2025 as Winter Storm Blair brought heavy snow, fierce winds and treacherous ice from the Midwest to the mid-Atlantic on Sunday, Jan. 5 and Monday, Jan. 6.

Co-ops in Kentucky, Missouri, Virginia, Illinois and Indiana were making steady progress in restoring power Tuesday after Blair felled trees and power poles and coated power lines with ice.

In Illinois, the brunt of the damage affected consumer-members of co-ops in the southernmost part of the state due to ice. Southern Illinois has not experienced an ice event of this magnitude since 2008.

Egyptian Electric Cooperative Association (EECA), SouthEastern Illinois Electric Cooperative (SEIEC) and Southern Illinois Electric Cooperative (SIEC) implemented the Emergency Work Plan to request help from other co-ops. Crews from 13 electric co-ops answered the call to assist with storm recovery and help get the power back on.

“We help other co-ops in a time of need, and they do the same for us,” EnerStar Electric Cooperative posted on social media, after sending crews to assist SEIEC with storm recovery.

At the peak of outages, EECA had more than 4,000 outages, SEIEC had 16,000-plus, and SIEC had more than 5,500. With the help of mutual aid, Illinois electric co-op personnel chipped away at the outages throughout the week in frigid temperatures and ice.

Power restoration is a team effort. Every storm is different and poses various sets of challenges. Co-op employees work together to get power restored as quickly and safely as possible. Member services representatives are taking your calls, engineers and lineworkers are surveying and repairing damage, vegetation management teams are clearing hazards, dispatchers are organizing crews, and communicators are keeping everyone informed of progress or potential dangers.

Restoration is prioritized by responding first to public safety issues and critical services like hospitals. Then, crews complete work that impacts the largest number of people first. During restoration, lineworkers face many dangers. Besides working around high-voltage power lines, crews are on alert for falling trees, cars and the elements.

Photo Courtesy of Travis Deterding, Egyptian Electric Cooperative Association