Photo by Timmy Ipock

After battling day-long power outages until 2:00 a.m., the last thing Tideland crews expected was an automobile crash three hours later that left a joint use pole hanging midair. That’s exactly what happened the morning of Dec. 24, 2022 near the intersection of Highway 306 and West Road in southern Beaufort County.

In an emergency situation, avoid contact with energized lines.

In several areas south of the Pamlico River, Duke Energy Progress and Tideland have joint use poles to reduce infrastructure redundancy. In this particular case, Tideland’s conductor is built above Duke’s own powerlines and Duke owns the pole. When the pole was clipped, both utilities’ powerlines remained energized. It is important to note that first responders and those on scene prudently observed electric safety precautions to avoid contact with the energized lines. (See infographic to the right to learn more.)

Tideland line superintendent Timmy Ipock was dispatched to the scene. With temperatures in the teens and most residents dependent on electric heating systems, both utilities decided to keep the power flowing until Duke’s contract construction crew was in place and ready to complete pole replacement. Ipock remained stationed at the crash site and assisted as necessary. In preparing for the planned outage, Tideland sent a text message to members on the Lowland circuit advising them of the need to terminate power when work was underway. We advised members that once power was restored it was critical to minimize system demand to avoid overloading transformers on such a cold morning. We asked that they keep large loads off for at least 15 to 30 minutes after power restoration. It was our intention to send a follow up text message at least 10 minutes prior to the start of the planned outage but a text messaging system outage prevented the co-op from doing so until after the outage was underway.

The planned outage began at 11:15 a.m. and concluded at 2:35 p.m. Power restoration went smoothly thanks to Lowland circuit members heeding our call to keep demand low until the system heated back up. We also want to applaud first responders, and Duke Energy Progress, and River City Construction Company based in Washington. All participants responded with effective work on a very cold Christmas Eve morning.

Find generator safety tips at tidelandemc.com >>