North Carolina's Electric Cooperatives Monitoring Forecasts, Preparing for Winter Storm

North Carolina's electric cooperatives are on standby and ready to restore power as quickly as possible if outages should occur as a result of the predicted winter storm.

"The state's 26 electric cooperatives are carefully monitoring this winter weather system and are prepared for possible power outages in the 93 counties served by the cooperatives," said Jane Pritchard, director of corporate communications for North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation.

Because North Carolina's electric cooperatives are located in the communities they serve, restoration crews are always on-site and can begin work immediately.

Electric cooperative members are asked to call their cooperative directly if they experience a disruption in power. For a complete list of phone numbers to report outages and a list of counties served by each co-op. Those phone numbers should be retrieved and on-hand before power outages occur.

North Carolina's electric cooperatives provide energy to 2.5 million people in 93 of 100 counties, primarily in rural parts of the state. The electric cooperatives own and maintain 95,000 miles of power lines, by far the most of any electric utility in North Carolina.