GAHANNA, Ohio — AEP Ohio crews and field personnel are actively restoring power to about 2,300 customers after severe thunderstorms crossed the state. While outages are scattered, the majority are in western and northeastern Ohio.
AEP Ohio has more than 1,000 line, tree and support personnel from over 40 service centers across the state ready to respond if continued severe weather causes additional outages.
With high winds and extremely saturated ground, trees are more susceptible to uprooting and falling, potentially breaking poles and bringing down power lines. Crews will work to restore any power outages as quickly and safely as possible but lingering strong wind gusts could delay some restoration efforts.
HOW WE RESTORE POWER
- Assessing & Beginning Repairs: While assessment teams take inventory of damage and determine resource needs, lineworkers start making repairs where they safely can. Customers without power in the hardest hit areas will likely see a status of “assessing” until crews are able to determine the severity of the damage. This process takes time, especially in more rural areas where the terrain may make it more difficult to reach and repair damaged equipment. Read more about this process.
- Making Priority Repairs: Restoring power to essential services like hospitals and fire and police stations are our top priority. We also focus on making repairs that will restore power to the largest number of customers in the least amount of time, then move on to energize clusters of homes and businesses.
- Restoring Individual Lines: Once main lines have been restored, crews focus on restoring power to individual homes. This step often takes the most time as each repair affects only a few customers.
SAFETY REMINDERS
- AEP Ohio strongly encourages customers with life-supporting medical equipment to have a backup power source and an alternate plan in the event of a power outage.
- If you see any downed lines, stay as far away as possible from them and anything they may be touching and call 911 or AEP Ohio at 800-672-2231 immediately.
- Investigate your surroundings before trying to clean up any debris. Tree limbs, leaves and other objects moved by the wind could hide downed wires. Do not attempt to remove tree limbs or debris within 10 feet of a power line.
STAYING CONNECTED
We’ll continue to keep customers informed as more information becomes available. Updates will be provided at AEPOhio.com as well as other communication channels.
About AEP Ohio
AEP Ohio is based in Gahanna, Ohio, and is a unit of American Electric Power. AEP Ohio provides electricity to 1.5 million customers across 61 counties. News and information about AEP Ohio can be found at AEPOhio.com.
About AEP
American Electric Power (Nasdaq: AEP) is committed to improving our customers’ lives with reliable, affordable power. We expect to invest $72 billion from 2026 through 2030 to enhance service for customers and support the growing energy needs of our communities. Our nearly 17,000 employees operate and maintain the nation’s largest electric transmission system with 40,000 line miles, along with more than 252,000 miles of distribution lines to deliver energy to 5.6 million customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the nation’s largest electricity producers with approximately 30,000 megawatts of diverse owned and contracted generating capacity. We are focused on safety and operational excellence, creating value for our stakeholders and bringing opportunity to our service territory through economic development and community engagement. Our family of companies includes AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana, east Texas and the Texas Panhandle). AEP also owns AEP Energy, which provides innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide. AEP is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. For more information, visit aep.com.