In early January, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), an association for investor-owned utilities, handed out its annual Emergency Recovery Awards to three electric utilities for their impressive responses to weather emergencies.

One of the recipients was Georgia Power, which has won the award eight times before, including last year. This year, the award was for its power restoration efforts following 14 tornadoes that hit the state in March 2019. The outbreak broke or damaged hundreds of poles and forced more than 16 miles of downed wire that led to approximately 19,000 power outages. Over 600 personnel were mobilized to restore power, including other Southern Company operating companies. The personnel worked approximately 20,000 hours during the restoration efforts and fully restored power within three days.

A second winner was Dayton Power and Light Company, a subsidiary of AES Corporation, that won for its restoration efforts following a series of 15 tornadoes that hit Ohio in May, resulting in outages for over 100,000 customers. Crews dedicated 80,000 man-hours to restoration efforts and were able to restore power within 10 days.

The third winner was Entergy Power for its restoration efforts after Hurricane Barry hit Louisiana in July 2019 that caused over 140,000 outages. Crews committed over 430,000 man-hours to restoration efforts and were able to restore full power within eight days. Entergy also won an Emergency Assistance award for its efforts to help restore power for a Dallas utility hit by a storm in June 2019.