Hundreds of thousands of customers remain without electricity after powerful hurricanes hit the island in September.
The crews going from APS will be part of a nationwide mutual assistance effort, sending nearly 1,500 electric workers to bolster restoration efforts on the island. Ahead of crews’ arrival in early January, APS is transporting vehicles and equipment via barges from the Port of Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Crews and support staff making the 3,000-mile journey to Puerto Rico represent a diverse swath of APS’s territory with employees coming from Yuma, Douglas, Cottonwood, Surprise, Buckeye, Goodyear, Paradise Valley and Phoenix. These crews will join the nearly 5,500 restoration workers already on the island who are assisting the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA). PREPA, along with FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), has been running an emergency command center on the island since early December. APS has committed crews to the island through mid-March.
Providing mutual assistance is not new to APS. In 2012, APS sent crews to help with restoration efforts in New York after Superstorm Sandy, and early last year to assist with efforts in Northern California after major storms caused flooding and toppled power lines.
“APS did not hesitate to answer the call for help,” says Jacob Tetlow, APS’s VP of Transmission and Distribution Operations. “Our team is working to support the people of Puerto Rico because it is the right thing to do. APS is proud to be a part of this effort, and we look forward to working hand-in-hand with energy companies from around the country to help restore power to the citizens of Puerto Rico.”
