Crews from Ohio, Tennessee helping restore AES power
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — AES says crews from Ohio and Tennessee are in Indianapolis to help restore power across the city.
News 8 spoke with Kelly Young, a spokesperson for AES, and says it could take days to reach everyone.
“It’s hard when you look outside now and it’s sunny and beautiful. And people are wondering and frustrated why their power isn’t back on. It takes… it’s a lot of work. our crews, like I said, are working as hard as they can. We just ask that everybody stays patient and just know that we’re out there working hard for you,” Young said.
AES has reported nearly 48,000 homes and businesses still in the dark Friday morning. Outages are more widespread for Duke Energy.
More than 92,000 customers don’t have power from Evansville to Lafayette. Indiana Michigan reports a thousand outages mainly in Munice as of Friday.
AES Indiana released an update Friday afternoon regarding Thursday’s storms:
“AES Indiana, a subsidiary of The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES), is continuing to manage its storm response plan and focus on a multi-day restoration effort across Central Indiana where more than 81,000 customers were affected by yesterday’s severe storm. AES Indiana crews and contractors worked overnight and made significant progress. As of 1 p.m., approximately 41,500 customers remain without power.
AES Indiana has brought in additional crews and is receiving support from neighboring utilities in Illinois, Ohio and Tennessee. Crews continue to work through the significant tree damage to power lines and equipment. However, with approximately 2,600 incidents, the severity of the damage caused by yesterday’s high winds, fallen trees and downed power lines has pushed this to a multi-day restoration effort. Additionally, the weekend forecast from the National Weather Service places the AES Indiana service territory under a slight severe storm risk later today, primarily in the 5 to 10 p.m. timeframe. All hazards are possible, but damaging winds will be the primary threat.
AES Indiana reminds customers that we always work to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. Our power restoration process is designed to address emergency situations first and then to restore power to as many customers as possible.”