Work continues on the utility's transmission and distribution systems. The spill begins at Santee Dam.

Posted September 27, 2024 | [email protected]
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MONCKS CORNER, SC – As of 6 a.m. today, Santee Cooper was in Alert Status Operating Condition (OpCon) 1. Hurricane Helene caused a significant event on the Santee Cooper power grid. Damage assessment and restoration is ongoing and is expected to take several days.

Approximately 2 million South Carolinians rely on the state's electric and water utilities as a source of electricity, either directly or through the state's electric cooperatives.

“Hurricane Helene caused significant damage to our transmission system in the western part of the state, which primarily supplies power to the state's electric cooperatives as well as one industrial and one municipal customer. Our teams respond to outages as quickly as possible and we are working with our partners at the electric cooperatives to restore transmission service to their substations,” said Vicky Budreau, Chief Customer Officer.

As of 11 a.m. today, a total of 48 transmission lines were closed and 116 delivery points were impacted on the Santee Cooper transmission system due to the storm. We are patrolling the system with helicopters and ground personnel to complete our damage assessment. Santee Cooper expects all delivery locations to have power by Monday evening.

Around 6,700 residential and commercial customers lost power in our retail area. (About 4,200 customers were without power at peak times.) Much of the damage was due to high winds, fallen trees and branches on power lines.

Santee Cooper customers who experience a power outage at home or business should follow the following steps:

1. Check your electrical panel or fuse box. If you have circuit breakers, turn the main switch to the “off” position and then back to the “on” position. If you have fuses, check your fuse box and replace any blown fuses.
2. If it is safe, check the external circuit breaker under your meter (not all buildings have an external circuit breaker).
3. Check with your neighbors to see if they have electricity.
4. Visit Stormcenter.santeecooper.com or call 888-769-7688 to report the outage. Be prepared to provide the following information:
1. Account name and location.
2. Telephone number.
3. Type of problem (power outage, partial power, dim or flickering light, etc.).
4. Any additional information (line failure, loud noises, etc.).

Increased rainfall in the Santee Cooper watershed due to Hurricane Helene and upstream lake operations resulted in increased inflows into the Santee Cooper lake system. Santee Cooper began releasing water at a rate of 20,000 cubic feet per second (8,976,650 gallons per minute) to keep lake levels below the maximum elevation of the FERC operating license.

System Operations will continue to monitor precipitation forecasts and inflows into the Santee Cooper lake system and provide updates as conditions change.