Electric outage planned for Jellico Utilities customers Saturday night

If you reside in the Pleasant View or Emlyn communities of Whitley County, or if you’re just over the state line in the Jellico area, then be aware that the Tennessee Valley Authority has scheduled a power outage for this Saturday night, Dec. 2.

The outage, which is necessary for the TVA to replace aging equipment inside the Jellico substation, is slated to begin at approximately 10 p.m. Saturday, and could last until around 8 a.m. Sunday morning.

TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks shared the following information with the News Journal via a prepared statement, “TVA’s scheduled outage during the overnight hours of Dec. 2 is necessary to replace some aging equipment at the Jellico substation, which will improve reliability for Jellico customers. For the safety of our workers, we have to take the substation offline to conduct the work. This is the only connection point between TVA and Jellico, which means Jellico customers will be temporarily impacted. We are working with Jellico Utilities to keep the outage as short as possible during the overnight hours. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”

Despite the projected 10-hour timeframe, Jellico Utilities President and CEO Joe Carroll is optimistic that work will be completed sooner than 8 a.m. on the morning of Dec. 3.

“We think we can get it done within a 5-hour period,” Carroll said. “We are hoping for the timeframe to be more like 10 p.m.-4a.m.”

Carroll referred to this job as “routine maintenance,” saying care was taken to choose a time for the outage that would have the least amount of impact on homes and businesses in the area.

“This doesn’t happen very often,” Carroll said. “But when equipment ages, that needs to be addressed. We wish that there never had to be an outage. You do have maintenance issues that pop up from time-to-time, though.”

Carroll said that Jellico Utilities began notifying its customers of the planned outage about two weeks ago, adding a note onto monthly bills containing details and posting the information to social media.

As of press time Tuesday, temperatures are being forecasted to stay in the low-to-mid 40’s during the overnight hours Saturday, depending on your exact location. Carroll advised anyone concerned about the cold to go ahead and heat their homes up a few degrees higher than normal prior to the outage beginning. He also said to make sure and charge devices ahead of time, and if anyone has any specialized medical equipment that they are worried about, he urged those individuals to contact their healthcare providers to potentially arrange for access to a temporary alternate power source.

“Our line crews will be on call that night to make sure that everyone has their power restored as soon as possible,” Carroll assured. “The TVA is good at what they do, and I have confidence in them to get this maintenance done quickly.”

According to the Jellico Utilities website, www.jellicoutilities.com, the company “serves approximately 4,500 electric, 1,700 water, and 1,000 wastewater customers in portions of Campbell County, TN and Whitley County, KY (electric only).”

Carroll said that approximately 2,150 of Jellico Utilities’ customers reside in Kentucky.

Anyone experiencing problems related to the planned outage can contact Jellico Utilities at (423) 784-3742.

For more information on the TVA, visit them online at www.tva.com, or call (865) 632-2101.