East Montpelier, Vt: April 18 marks the national day of recognition for lineworkers: the people who keep the power on all across America. Washington Electric Cooperative (WEC) is proud to honor its hardworking line crews.
The job of lineworkers requires skill, teamwork, high-stakes problem solving, physical effort and courage in the best of conditions. When outages occur, lineworkers are called in to work in the middle of the night and in all weather. During major storm events, lin-eworkers work grueling hours until power has been restored to every home and busi-ness.
“Our crews are highly skilled and incredibly dedicated, and they do their job in the ru-ral, rocky forests of Central Vermont,” said WEC General Manager Patty Richards. “Imagine going out in freezing rain, at three in the morning, and bushwhacking through dense brush for miles. That’s even before they find the source of the outage and make the repair. Now imagine doing that for 14 hours a day, five days in a row, and you have some sense of what storm restoration is like.”
On top of already difficult job conditions, this past year COVID-19 posed an extra safe-ty challenge for lineworkers. At WEC, stringent precautions to protect their health, making sure they were ready to work in the event of a major outage.
WEC encourages its members and the public to express appreciation for lineworkers on April 18 and every day. When you see line crews on the job, please express your thanks safely, from a distance, and without distracting these essential service providers from their work.
“We sometimes take electricity for granted,” observed Richards. “We must not take for granted the people who work so hard to make sure that when you flip the switch, the light turns on.”
About Washington Electric Cooperative:
Washington Electric Cooperative (WEC) is a member-owned, not-for-profit electric utility founded in 1939. WEC serves approximately 10,800 member-owners in 41 towns throughout Washington, Orange, Caledonia, and Orleans counties with power generated from 100 percent renewable sources. WEC is an equal opportunity provider and em-ployer. For more information, please visit washingtonelectric.coop or call 802-223-5245.