CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Both the Kanawha County Commission and state Public Service Commission are extending their thanks to the state’s two major utility companies for their work this week in getting power restored customers who were without since Tuesday’s storm event.
At its peak Tuesday evening, Appalachian Power said there were 125,000 customers that lost service. More than 36,000 customers of Monongahela Power and the Potomac Edison also lost power.
There were as many as 60,000 power outages reported in Kanawha County. That number had fallen to just a few thousand by Friday evening.
More than 95% of AEP customers have had their service restored. MonPower only had a few hundred customers left to address Friday.
“This is a testament to excellent leadership and teamwork from all involved,” the commission said Friday.
AEP utilized more than 3,900 storm response workers from multiple other states.
“These dedicated workers put others’ needs before their own to ensure our citizens had a warm home to sleep in at the end of the day,” said the state PSC.
MonPower and PE had more than 500 people working to restore power.
“Losing power is a frightening and painful experience for everyone involved,” PSC Chairman Charlotte R. Lane said. “I believe these companies deserve special credit for their heroic efforts to so quickly put right what these devastating storms did to our state residents.
“I appreciate the dedicated efforts of police, firefighters, other first-responders, and county and city workers who have worked tirelessly to return our citizens to a state of normalcy,” she added.
A state of emergency was declared by Governor Jim Justice in 11 counties following the arrival of the storm Tuesday. The National Weather Service also confirmed two tornados had touched down in Kanawha County and another one hit in Fayette County.