ElectriCities Celebrates Electric Lineworkers’ Skill, Dedication, and Service

RALEIGH, N.C. — ElectriCities of North Carolina, Inc., celebrates and honors electric lineworkers this April.

Monday, April 8, is North Carolina Lineworker Appreciation Day, and Thursday, April 18, is National Lineworker Appreciation Day. Both days are designated to honor the lineworkers who perform the critical work needed to keep our communities powered every day.

“Lineworkers are skilled professionals who rise to the challenge to perform difficult and dangerous work, at times in grueling conditions for long hours, all while adhering to strict safety protocols,” said ElectriCities CEO, Roy Jones. ElectriCities is the membership organization that provides power supply and related critical services to over 90 community-owned electric systems in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia—collectively known as public power.

“Lineworkers prioritize the needs of their neighbors above their own to keep the lights on in the communities they serve,” Jones said. “They are true hometown heroes.”

In North Carolina, public power lineworkers keep the electricity flowing for nearly 1.3 million people in more than 70 public power cities and towns throughout the state. Across the nation, public power lineworkers support 2,000 municipalities, serving one out of every seven Americans.

Since public power lineworkers frequently live in the communities they serve, they can respond quickly when storms or other disasters damage lines or equipment. Their quick response is key to the exceptional electric reliability public power communities are known for maintaining.

Nationally, public power customers experience half the average outage time as customers of other utilities, according to the latest report from the American Public Power Association.

North Carolina public power customers enjoy even better reliability, with outages lasting only a third as long as customers of other providers. The state’s public power lineworkers keep the power on 99.98% of the time. So, on average, North Carolina’s public power customers face less than one outage a year and it lasts less than one hour.

A lineworker’s job is dangerous, and rigorous safety protocols help keep them safe. To ensure they adhere to required safety procedures and protocols, lineworkers in ElectriCities member cities and towns participate in safety training, ElectriCities’ Apprenticeship Program, and other career development programs.

In addition to safely keeping the lights on in their own communities, public power lineworkers participate in a statewide and national mutual aid network that authorizes crews to travel to help repair electric systems. These first responders light the way for other first responders, bringing the initial sign of recovery to an area hit by disaster.

“Lineworkers are often the first, first responders, and they’re the backbone of public power,” Jones said. “I’m proud to celebrate these hometown heroes, today and every day.”