BRMEMC

Weather Alert: Throughout our service territory widespread rain and scattered thunderstorms are expected to continue today. A complex storm system will bring a threat of strong to severe thunderstorms Wednesday evening through Thursday afternoon. As always please be prepared for any power outages that may occur and keep cell phones charged. Report power outages 24/7 through the Outage Texting Service, online through our website https://www.brmemc.com/report-an-outage/, or by calling (706) 379-3121. Outages can be tracked through our Outage Map at http://outage.brmemc.com:8008/. Stay safe and be alert!

FlexPay. What is it? And how does it work? FlexPay is for members who want to take control of their utility account by monitoring their energy consumption on a regular basis and pay as you go. Think of FlexPay like filling up your car with gas or as a pre-paid account. As you use electricity those funds are depleted. Add money to your FlexPay account daily, weekly, monthly, or whatever fits your budget. But be sure to monitor your account closely because if your FlexPay accou...nt runs out of money your power will automatically be turned off. FlexPay will send an alert once the account goes negative and you have 24 hours to make a payment. We don't have access to your FlexPay account so it's up to you to add funds to get the power turned back on automatically. By monitoring your consumption on a regular basis, you'll begin to notice patterns in your day-to-day usage as well. Many of our members use FlexPay instead of using the traditional post-pay where you pay for your power used after the fact and receive a mailed invoice. For more information on FlexPay visit https://www.brmemc.com/flexpay/. See more

Congratulations to the Towns County Boy’s Basketball team for their state championship win They are the 2021 GHSA 1A Public Boys Basketball Champions!

We're sending best wishes to the Towns County High School boy's basketball team as they play for the state championship tomorrow. Good luck and bring home the win! We also want to congratulate the Murphy Lady Bulldogs on their state championship win Way to go!

National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day: Remembering and honoring the 2,403 United States citizens who were killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, which led to the United States declaring war on Japan the next day and entering World War II.

UPDATE: The intermittent connectivity issue has been resolved. Our phone lines and website are back up. -------------------------------------------------- We’re experiencing intermittent connectivity issues here at our office that is affecting our phone lines and website. Our IT department is working to resolve the issue.

Sunday Morning Update: Good morning! There are currently 235 members without power and crews will be working on replacing the last 16 broken poles. We feel optimistic that we’ll be able to have all outages restored today. Of course it’s hard to tell until we’re in the repair work process. Some members around these outage areas may experience intermittent outages as we bring lines back up. We’re thankful to have had help from Mountain Electric Cooperative and Murphy Power Board Electric. Please keep some of our neighboring co-ops in your thoughts and prayers because they too are still restoring outages.

December 2, 2020 NOTICE OF INTENT TO RELEASE A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) FOR TEMPORARY BROADBAND CONSTRUCTION ASSISTANCE Blue Ridge Mountain Electric Membership Corporation, Inc., a Georgia-based electric cooperative, hereby notifies all interested parties of its intent to release a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking a qualified construction contractor to install fiber optic infrastructure, including but not limited to aerial and underground fiber-optic cable and subscriber ...drops, within its service territory located in Northeast Georgia and Western North Carolina. A successful bidder will be able to demonstrate proficiency in aerial attachment of fiber optic lines to existing electric poles (in both the electric and communications space), underground fiber-optic installation (via trenching, plowing and boring), as well as fiber-optic splicing, all performed at competitive rates. This RFP will become available immediately upon publication of this notice. Interested parties should contact the following individual at Blue Ridge Mountain EMC either in writing or via electronic mail (email) to receive a copy of the RFP: Blue Ridge Mountain EMC c/o Fred Gray, Director of Operations 875 Main St. East Young Harris, GA 30582 or email* at [email protected] (*Requests received via email will be confirmed as received by BRMEMC) Completed proposals must be received back from qualified construction contractors to Blue Ridge Mountain EMC by no later than 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 31, 2020. Any questions about said RFP must be directed to Fred Gray at Blue Ridge Mountain EMC, and all responses to questions will be shared with all interested parties. Further, Blue Ridge Mountain EMC assures compliance with non-discrimination requirements related to this notice, the RFP released, and any subsequent contract(s) awarded.

Evening Update: There are 1,040 members still without power and 20 plus broken power poles to replace. This is unfortunately very time-consuming work. Crews are working very hard and as quickly as they possibly can to restore power.

Saturday Morning Update: We have approximately 2,300 members without power. Our dispatch personnel identified 37 broken poles throughout our system. Our crews along with the help of neighboring co-op’s will continue the rigorous work of restoring power. Again, we appreciate your thoughtful words and prayers for safety.

Evening Update: We’re continuing to make progress in restoring power. As of 10 p.m. there are 2,679 members without power. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as we work towards getting their power back on.

Mid-Afternoon Update: As power restoration efforts continue we want to thank Murphy Electric Power Board for jumping in to help us today. We greatly appreciate their help. Also, Mountain Electric Cooperative out of Tennessee is sending a crew of 9 to assist us. As of 4 p.m. today there are 5,834 members without power. Damage has been extensive in some of these areas. A big THANK YOU to our members who have shared kind messages and prayers of safety for the crews and employees.

Morning Update: Crews continue to work around the clock to restore power. As of 9 a.m. this morning we still had 9,520 members without power. As linemen, right-of-way crews, dispatch personnel and engineers work on restoring power some members may experience intermittent outages while we’re bringing distribution lines and tap lines back up. Some of the hardest hit areas are taking longer to restore power due to broken poles and lines and clearing of fallen trees and debris. T...hese areas have included Suches, Rainbow Springs, Aska, Spur 60/N.C. 60, Owltown, and others. As mentioned in yesterday’s midday update this can be a multi-day restoration process. We’ve included a graphic below of how the restoration process works. The photo is of one of our crews pulling a tap line across the Toccoa River in Suches, Georgia at Cavender Gap and Hwy. 60. Lineman Chase Hemphill is in the bucket while crewmen Kelly Cruse, Clayton Wood, Jeff Odom, Terrence Kane, Chris Busbee, Jesse Miller and Josh Bryant wait to finish their duties after the tap line gets across the river. See more

Evening Update: We currently have 10,294 members without power. Crews have made enormous progress today, restoring half of the overall 21,000 outages we had earlier this morning. Restoration efforts continue as they begin to tackle some of the more isolated outages and setting new poles in place of broken ones. These efforts are time consuming, but we’re working as quickly as we can.

Midday Update: Since our last post, we had additional outages to occur bringing the total outages to around 21,000. The majority of outages were caused by fallen trees and limbs on power lines, and rain that washed out areas. Right now, we've identified five broken poles throughout our system and we’re expecting more as crews continue to report back on damage assessments. We have been able to reduce the number of outages to around 17,000 within the last several hours. This will be a multi-day restoration effort to fully restore power to all our members as we continue to canvas the area for damages and make repairs. As a reminder, please keep a safe distance from our crews working. This is for your safety and theirs, but also to adhere to COVID-19 precautions. We'll continue to post updates here throughout the day and night.

Important update from Interim General Manager Erik Brinke: As of 7:30 am this morning BRMEMC has recorded over 150 outages affecting over 15,000 members across most of our system. The outage and number impacted continues to climb as the wind and rain remain across our system. BRMEMC crews have been mobilized and are in the field working diligently to assess the damage and make repairs. Already, our crews have been able to restore power in some areas, but much work remains ...to be done. These repairs will take time to complete, so we are asking for patience. It is in times like this that the men and women of BRMEMC shine the brightest. We train and prepare for these kinds of storm events, and our employees are skilled at what they do. I, for one, am very thankful we have such a fine group of employees that everyone can rely on when the conditions outside are the worst. See more

Power Outages: We are experiencing widespread power outages across our service territory. See outage map below. Approximately 7,500 members are without power. At this time, we do not have a timeframe for full power restoration.

Weather Alert Update: The National Weather Service has issued a tropical storm warning for our service territory. The latest weather models show winds can be as strong as 60 mph overnight and into tomorrow morning. Widespread power outages can occur in these conditions due to fallen trees and limbs blown on power lines. Again, please be as prepared as possible. Ensure you have flashlights, batteries, water and a charged cell phone. If power outages occur, our crews will be dispatched immediately as long as weather conditions are safe for them to work. As long as you have internet access you can monitor outages on our website at http://www.brmemc.com:8008/. Stay safe.

Weather Alert: From Wednesday morning through Thursday evening expect periods of heavy rainfall across the area due to the rain bands associated with Tropical Storm Zeta moving in. Rainfall totals of 2 to 4 inches are expected on average throughout our service territory. Flash flooding can occur. This storm will also have wind gusts up to 30 mph. These weather conditions can cause power outages. Please make sure you're prepared with flashlights, extra batteries, and a charged cell phone. As always stay away from downed power lines and call us immediately. Power outages can be reported by calling (706) 379-3121, text in your outage using the outage texting service, or report it online at brmemc.com. Be safe.