Blue Ridge Energy Restoration Efforts Continue Into the Evening Hours (5:30pm update)

LENOIR, NC (5:30 P.M. – January 3, 2022) — Blue Ridge Energy is continuing work to restore power to remaining members affected by Monday’s snow storm.   

 Currently, 53 members are affected in parts of Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe and Wilkes counties.

At the height of the storm (5:00 A.M.), 5,493 members were without power and 8,844 in total experienced an outage across the cooperative’s service area of Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Wilkes, Alexander and Avery counties as a result of strong winds and heavy wet snow that led to trees falling into powerlines from outside of right-of-way areas.

In Caldwell County, 563 members were affected by damage in six locations throughout the Dudley Shoals, Dry Ponds, and Patterson area.

Watauga County experienced widespread damage to 38 locations affecting 2,555 members.  

Ashe County also experienced widespread damage at 24 locations with 5,155 members being affected.

In Alleghany, 15 locations experienced damage primarily the Ellis, Glade Valley, and Bristol area, impacting 571 members.

Blue Ridge Energy crews will continue efforts to restore power to remaining members experiencing an outage this evening. As a reminder if members are without power, they can report an outage the following ways:

• Call 1-800-448-2383
• By using the Blue Ridge Energy mobile app
• By text when signed up for outage texting (to sign up: be sure your mobile number is listed on your account, then text START to 70216. Then, you can text OUT to 70216 anytime you have an outage)

For outage status at any time:

• View the cooperative’s online outage map at www.BlueRidgeEnergy.com or on our mobile app.

 Blue Ridge Energy posts information during major outages on its social media channels:

www.facebook.com/blueridgeenergy
www.instagram.com/blueridgeenergy
www.twitter.com/blueridgeemc

However, outage reporting is only available using one of the three options above (phone, mobile app or text) to ensure outages are immediately and accurately logged into the cooperative’s outage reporting and management system.

Blue Ridge Electric serves some 78,000 members in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, and parts of Wilkes, Avery and Alexander counties. Its propane and fuels subsidiary serves customers in the cooperative’s service area as well as Burke, Catawba, and Grayson County, Va. Learn more at www.BlueRidgeEnergy.com.

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