ORLANDO, FL. - For the second time in less than a week, OUC-The Reliable One sent a power restoration crew to the Carolinas as a winter storm was forecast to blanket the region with snow and ice. On Thursday (Jan. 20), 10 linemen and a fleet mechanic left Orlando for a 500-mile trip to Conway, S.C., where the team will assist the state-owned electric utility with any recovery efforts.

The OUC crew was dispatched in response to a mutual aid request from Santee Cooper, the state's largest power provider with more than 190,000 retail customers.

The crew will remain in South Carolina as long as it's needed. While there, crew members will observe OUC's COVID-19 precautions, including social distancing and enhanced safety and sanitization protocols.

On Jan. 15, an 11-member OUC crew arrived in High Point, N.C., in anticipation of Winter Storm Izzy severely impacting the city's grid. However, High Point's electric utility emerged from the storm unscathed, and OUC's crew was released on Jan. 17.

The latest deployment is led by Line Supervisor Darin Boatright, whose team consists of:

• Bodie Adkinson, Lead Line Tech
• Mike Atout, Line Tech I
• Shane Walker, Line Tech II
• Charlie Strosnider, Line Tech III
• Steven Carver, Lead Line Tech
• Steven Ramos, Line Tech I
• Paul Retherford, Line Tech I
• Chris Irvine, Line Tech II
• Nicholas Emmons, Line Tech III
• Rivera Pena, Master Fleet Tech

About OUC-The Reliable One

Established in 1923 by a special act of the Florida Legislature, OUC-The Reliable One is the second largest municipal utility in Florida. OUC provides electric and water services to about 400,000 accounts in Orlando, St. Cloud and parts of unincorporated Orange and Osceola counties. Visit www.ouc.com to learn more about our commitment to reliability, affordability and sustainability.