News Releases

December 17, 2007 – Southern Pioneer and contracted crews are narrowing down the number of residences out of power. Currently, there are 108 customers out of power with forty-five poles still needing replaced. That number has dwindled from nearly 1,100; the original number customers that were out of power due to last week’s ice storm.

“We are making solid progress toward completing restorations throughout our service area,” said Southern’s Manager of Operations and Engineering, Brian Beecher. “We ask our customers who still need to have their power restored to remain patient as crews work diligently and safely.”

Over the weekend, power was restored to the towns of Belvidere, Haviland, Wellsford, Cullison, Sawyer, Elm Mills, Penelosa and Byers. Today, Elm Mills, Sun City and a few rural customers in Pratt and Willowdale are without power.

Southern Pioneer is urging customers to remain a safe distance from downed power lines. Please do not attempt to move any lines, poles or transformers. It is imperative that customers never assume that any downed lines are not energized.

With 14 crews (nearly 75 linemen) working on Southern Pioneer’s territory, it is projected that by the end of this week, all customers, rural and town, will have power restored.

For more information about the storm restoration efforts, go to the Southern Pioneer Electric Company (SPECo) website at www.southernpioneer.net or contact one of Southern’s Customer Service Offices. Southern Pioneer Electric Company serves approximately 18,000 consumers and operates in 10 counties and 34 communities. SPECo's service territory stretches east from Liberal to southeast of Medicine Lodge and north to between Kingman and Cunningham and back west to Greensburg, Kansas. Southern Pioneer Electric Company's customer services offices are located in Liberal and Medicine Lodge with corporate offices in Ulysses, KS.

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December 14, 2007 - Unfortunately, today’s weather and the weather predictions for the weekend could be a hindrance on the pace the crews are currently working. Currently, a total of 605 customers are without power and over 100 poles need replaced.

“With another snow storm predicted for Thursday, I know many members are nervous about the reliability of their electric service,” said Southern Pioneer Electric’s Executive Vice President-COO, Randy Magnison. “During our restoration process and always, the Southern Pioneer crews and the contracted crews are putting up quality lines on our system. If our service territory does encounter the predicted weather, we’ll work through it. It is important that our customers know that our crews are working as hard as possible; I’m very happy with the progress they’ve made.”

Power was restored to the towns of Haviland and Coats yesterday evening. The towns of Cullison, Belvidere and Wellsford are expected to have power restored by this evening. Today’s main priority is the transmission line on Highway 54 between Pratt and Greensburg.

Southern Pioneer is urging customers to remain a safe distance from downed power lines. Please do not attempt to move any lines, poles or transformers. It is imperative that members never assume that any downed lines are not energized.

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December 13, 2007 – As the weather begins to warm and ice releases from the coated power lines and trees, Southern Pioneer Electric Company continues to experience fallen poles, broken cross arms and downed lines. It is estimated that Southern has 125 poles down and 1,100 customers without power. Even though we are still sustaining damage, Randy Magnison, Executive Vice President-COO, advised the number of customers off remained constant as continuing damage is in the more rural areas with few customers or areas that are already without power.

A combination of twelve crews, comprised of Kansas co-ops and electrical contracted crews, are on the ground and aggressively working around the clock to restore power. Brian Beecher, Manager of Operations and Engineering, said that Southern will first focus on restoring service to critical community infrastructure such as healthcare, public safety and shelters, etc. and then we will work in areas that will restore service to the greatest number of consumers. Eventually, power will be restored to everyone. However, with additional bad weather predicted the next few days in Southern’s eastern service territory, daily progress may be somewhat hampered and meeting restoration predictions may be challenged.

Southern’s primary focus since the initial damage and through out the remainder of this week is to rebuild the damaged sub-transmission line between Pratt and Greensburg, Kansas that serves the communities and consumers along west Highway 54 and provides a service loop to the remainder of our service territory. Once this line is restored and the substation owned by Mid-Kansas in Pratt is repaired, many consumers in the Haviland and surrounding area should have service. As this phase is completed, line personnel and equipment will be dispatched to join restoration crews currently working in others parts of our territory to ensure service is restored as quickly as possible.

Magnison said we understand consumers are concerned, especially with the forecast of more inclement weather. Because of the on-going damage, changing weather conditions and constantly reassessing its impact, Southern would like to thank consumers for their patience and understanding. In the meantime, Southern would encourage customers to exercise caution around downed power lines and to treat each one as if it were live. If consumers anticipate using a generator, it is strongly recommended they consult a licensed electrician in the hook-up to minimize damage to their residence/business or putting voltage back on our system that may injure line personnel.

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Electric Company Continues Restoration Efforts

December 12, 2007 –As ice-coated power lines and trees continue to fall, nearly 1,100 customers are without power in the Southern Pioneer Electric Company service territory.

Seven line crews from Kansas co-ops, including linemen from Pioneer Electric, Southern Pioneer’s parent company, and electrical contracted crews are diligently working to keep progress going. The electric company linemen and personnel will continue to work around-the-clock to both identify the damage to our system and to restore service to our consumers.

Because the system remains ice-coated, estimated outage times have not yet been determined. As stated previously, the coated power lines and trees are continuing to fall in the service territory, taking power lines down with them causing re-evaluation of the damage. Therefore, it is difficult at this time to provide accurate outage restoration times.

Across the state of Kansas, more than 4,000 utility poles were lost from the winter storm that blanketed the Midwest this week.

For more information about the storm restoration efforts, go to the Southern Pioneer Electric Company (SPECo) website at www.southernpioneer.net. Southern Pioneer Electric Company serves approximately 18,000 consumers and operates in 10 counties and 34 communities. SPECo's service territory stretches east from Liberal to Medicine Lodge and north to Pratt and back west to Greensburg, Kansas. Southern Pioneer Electric Company's customer services offices are located in Liberal and Medicine Lodge with corporate offices in Ulysses, KS.

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