A construction incident at an Upper Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation substation in Livingston left some 5,300 customers without power for more than an hour.
Director of Operations Joe Skelton said a TVA dump truck bed hit a guy wire that held an overhead electricity pole.
“And when the dump truck hung the guy wire it broke the top of the pole out,” Skelton said. “And allowed those overhead grounds to fall over onto the substation knocking the substation out.”
Skelton said these kinds of incidents are not common in day-to-day operations but have happened before. He said when they do occur, the first step is to ensure safety.
“And then we collectively get together and work together on a plan on what’s the fastest way to restore which we did,” Skelton said. “And then execute the plan. Which these guys did very effectively.”
Skelton said as of 9:30 a.m., power was restored to all customers.