Santee Cooper Recovering from Hurricane Helene
Work continues on utility's transmission and distribution systems. Spilling begins at the Santee Dam.
MONCKS CORNER, S.C. – As of 6 a.m. today, Santee Cooper went to Operating Condition (OpCon) 1 alert status. Hurricane Helene created a significant event on the Santee Cooper electric system. Damage assessment and restoration are ongoing and expected to last several days.
Approximately 2 million South Carolinians depend on the state-owned electric and water utility as their power source, 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 provides electricity to the state’s electric cooperatives as well as one industrial and one municipal customer. Our crews are responding to outages as quickly as we safely can, and we’re working alongside our partners at the electric co-ops to restore the transmission service to their substations,” said Vicky Budreau, Chief Customer Officer.
As of 11 a.m. today, Santee Cooper’s transmission system experienced a total of 48 transmission power lines locked out and 116 delivery points impacted because of the storm. We are patrolling the system with helicopters and ground crews to complete our damage assessment. Santee Cooper anticipates all delivery points will be energized by Monday night.
In our retail service territory, approximately 6,700 residential and commercial customers lost power. (Approximately 4,200 customers were without power at the peak.) A majority of the damage was due to high winds, downed trees, and tree limbs on power lines.
Santee Cooper customers who experience a power outage at their home or business should follow the steps below:
- Check your circuit panel or fuse box. If you have circuit breakers, flip the main breaker switch to the “off” position, then back to the “on” position. If you have fuses, check your fuse box and replace any fuses that have blown.
- If it’s safe, check the outside disconnect below your meter (not all buildings have an outside disconnect).
- Check with your neighbors to see if they have power.
- Visit stormcenter.santeecooper.com or call 888-769-7688 to report the outage. Be prepared to give the following information:
- Account name and location.
- Telephone number.
- Nature of problem (power outage, partial power, dim or flickering lights, etc.).
- Any additional information (line down, loud noises, etc.).
Increased rainfall in the Santee Cooper watershed because of Hurricane Helene and upstream lake operations resulted in increased inflows into the Santee Cooper lake system. Santee Cooper began spilling operations at a rate of 20,000 cubic feet per second (8,976,650 gallons per minute) to keep lake levels below the FERC operating license maximum elevation.
System Operations will continue to monitor rainfall projections and inflows into the Santee Cooper lake system and provide updates as conditions change.
