After an ice storm swept across portions of central Illinois on Jan. 1, thousands of cooperative members were left without power. Several cooperatives answered the call for the activation of the emergency work plan of the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives (AIEC) to help restore power safely and quickly.
To assist with outages in Eastern Illini Electric Cooperative (EIEC), Paxton, 12 line personnel from Shelby Electric Cooperative (SEC), Shelbyville; EnerStar Electric Cooperative (EEC), Paris; Coles-Moultrie Electric Cooperative (CMEC), Mattoon; and Rural Electric Convenience Cooperative (RECC), Auburn; arrived to assist EIEC personnel. Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Mt. Vernon, sent four linemen to assist Spoon River Electric Cooperative, Canton, restore power.
Crews from Corn Belt Energy Corporation, Bloomington and Princeton, were joined by those from Clinton County Electric Cooperative, Inc., Breese. Once power at EIEC was restored, the crews from CMEC, EEC, RECC and SEC moved over to help Corn Belt Energy. Corn Belt experienced heavy ice causing broken poles and lines. Crews worked around the clock in frigid temperatures as weather conditions caused ice to remain for days.
