Member Alerts
Stay up-to-date on important details regarding your power service and reported outages.
10:15 p.m. - We had a strong thunderstorm blow through the north west section of our service territory. This storm produced strong winds and pockets of large sized hail. Our crews are working towards restoration, they started with approximately 1,400 members out of power and are currently down to approximately 1,290 members. We have two broken poles in Sherwood Shores and another down line from those. We will continue to work as quickly and as safely possible until power is restored. We thank you for your understanding and patience.
11:20 P.M. - All repairs have been successfully and safely completed. We thank you for your understanding.
8:30 P.M. – While two crews work to replace a bad transformer in Fairview, additional crews are working on our transmission line between Gordonville and Sherwood Shores.
Earlier this evening, we discovered a portion of the transmission that has been damaged during one of the recent thunderstorms that traversed our service area. Most likely the lightning and near 80 MPH winds did the damage early Wednesday morning.
Transmission lines are very high voltage lines that deliver electricity to substations, and the poles are generally 70 feet or taller. In this case, the line is 138,000 volts on 70 feet concrete poles. The repair cannot be made while the line is energized. It is simply not safe, and we place the safety of your employees as the first priority in everything we do to provide service. When the crews get the equipment set up to perform the repairs, we will turn off power to the transmission line. We should began work between 10:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. and if all goes according to plan the outage should last approximately an hour. This outage will affect members north of US82 along and near US Highway 377.
These repairs are necessary to avoid a much longer term outage, additional damage to the conductors on the transmission line and potential wild fire hazards.
We thank you in advance for your understanding.
9:00 A.M. - Our crews have worked for almost 8 hours restoring service to almost 12,000 members. There are still 565 members without power due to severe damages from high winds. There have been reports that the winds were as strong as 80 MPH in our service area, and one member sent a picture of her rain gauge showing 5.5 inches of rain overnight east of Van Alstyne.
As the crews report back to dispatch, we are finding a few broken poles and several lines down due to fallen trees. These are often the longest repairs to be made, and they often require linemen climbing poles because it’s too wet for a heavy bucket truck.
We will continue until power is restored to every member. As we learn more, we will provide additional updates.
We thank you again for your patience and understanding. Hopefully, the latest forecast is correct, and we’ve seen the last of thunderstorms for a few days. We know our members need a break and our crews definitely need some rest.
6:00 A.M. - As we near dawn at 6:00 this morning, we continue to make progress in restoring service from the storm damage. Since the beginning of these latest rounds of thunderstorms close to midnight, we have successfully restored power to more than 11,000 members. We still have about 1,200 members affected, and the crews will work as safely and quickly as possible.
We cannot always provide an ETA or update when members call, but rest assured the crews are aware and working to restore service. While we would all like to know more, we would rather have the crews working instead of talking on he two way radio or phones with the dispatchers. When they do report into the office from their work assignments, we know they have been met with torrential rain, fallen trees, damage caused by winds and lightning and a lot of soft muddy ground. All of these elements of nature sometimes make progress slower than desired, but we want to insure the safety of our coworkers first.
As always, we thank you for your patience and understanding.
3:22 A.M. - As of 3:22 Am, we have restored service to almost 8,000 members affected by the latest storms to ravage the service area. All crews have been called into service, and they are reporting downed trees and severe lightning damage. They continue to work as safely and quickly as possible to restore service to all of our members. Currently, there are still over 4,000 members without power.
According to radar, weather services and local TV news stations, there are additional storms moving southeast out of Oklahoma, so we may experience additional outages. At times, the service crews may also deenergize portions of the power lines to safely make repairs.
One thing to note, the outage map on our system displays “dots” indicating known outages. The actual dot may not be at your location, it will be in the general area of the protection device, such as a breaker or fuse. These devices are often up line from the location of your home.
In addition to the reports received via the website, emails and phone calls, the meters indicate power outages. Should you have issues reporting an outage via our app (MyGCEC or SmartHub), it is because the meter has already alerted the dispatchers of your outage.
We would like to take this time to remind everyone to assume that any downed lines may be energized and very dangerous. Please stay away from any downed lines and report them to our office at 903.482.7100. The crews will be advised of your report.
Thanks again for your patience and understanding.
1:42 A.M. - Storms have once again moved into our service area. The high winds and lightning have caused service interruptions throughout much of our area reaching from northern Grayson County into much of Collin County. We have dispatched all crews to come assist in restoration of service. They will work as quickly and safely as possible to restore power. We thank you for your patience and understanding as this weather pattern has affected the Co-op and many other electric utilities across Texas for the past two weeks.
While it may seem frustrating, the coworkers answering the phones do not know the cause of the outage, the magnitude of the wind damage or the estimated time to repair the damage and restore service. We will provide additional updates as information is relayed from the linemen working in the rough weather conditions back to the dispatchers working to assign them for repairs
Once again, we gratefully appreciate your patience and understanding.
- 4:45 P.M. -Our guys have continued to work through the day restoring power. They have encountered mutilated vegetation and downed lines. Unfortunately this level of damage takes time to restore as they must navigate the vegetation and ensure safety. We assure you are crews and contract crews will continue working until all power is restored. They are working as safely and quickly as possible. We are here to take your calls and thank you for your patience and understanding.
- 9:55 A.M. - Our crews are continuing to work across our service area. They have restored power to more than 7,000 members and will continue to work until all power is restored. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
- 7:20 A.M. - We are working to restore power to those impacted by these storms moving through our service area. At the height of the storm we had approximately 8,700 members out. Our guys are working on restoring power and will continue to work until all power is restored. We advise all members to stay weather aware today as more storms are likely to come through our service area this evening.
- As of 8:45 p.m. 5/27 - All power has been restored to approximately 30,000 members. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we navigated restoration. We also send our thoughts and prayers with all of our members, as well as fellow Texans who were impacted by the storms this past weekend.
- As of 10:34 P.M. we have restored power to nearly 20,000 members and we are working on approximately the last 200 through the night. Governor Greg Abbott also added Collin County to the state's existing disaster declaration. We will continue our work until all power is restored. We thank you for your patience and your understanding as we work together to restore power.
- As of 8:56 P.M. our crews and contract crews are continuing to work through the night for power restoration. They continue to work against broken poles, displaced vegetation and downed power lines. It has also been confirmed that a tornado suggesting to be an EF-3 touched down in the Celina area. We are working as safely and quickly as possible and appreciate your understanding.
- As of 9:22 A.M. - We continue to work to restore service as quickly and safely as possible, we are preparing for a longer than normal extended outage for some members. During our assessment and restoration efforts, we have encountered a lot of wind damage.
We have posted a few photos on our Facebook page as an example Damaged poles and wire will have to be replaced, and the debris from roofs, barns and other damaged structures must be removed. These are very labor intensive operations. We thank our members for patience and understanding.
Updates throughout the day may be limited, as the crews are busy working; and we don’t wish to interrupt their progress. We would also like to note that the online outage map may not always be accurate. We have made changes to the source of several lines in order to restore service as we get some of the damage repaired. We have records of all reports of outages, and we have no plans to stop progress until service has been restored to everyone. Thanks again for your patience and understanding.
-As of 4:57 A.M. - As assessment of the storm damage continues into the night/early morning the "pole count" has surpassed 30. Replacement has already begun and power has been restored to more than 11,000 members. We also continue to monitor the weather that shows storms in Central Texas that have caused damages to utility companies and co-ops serving fellow Texans. We will monitor the track of these storms.
- As of 3:44 A.M. assessment and restoration efforts continue, we have found at least twenty poles down or broken from the high (possibly tornadic) winds. These poles must be replaced to fully restore service to members. In addition to these, there are dozens of additional poles that are leaning. Each of them must be carefully inspected for structural integrity. We thank you for your patience and understanding.
- As of 2:49 A.M. we have restored service to more than 10,000 members affected by the damaging winds. While we don't have official confirmation, there have been numerous reports of tornados in our service area and reports that Collin Count has declared this a natural disaster. We will continue to work until all power is restored.
- As of midnight 5.26.24, we are experiencing heavy wind damage across much of our service area. At this time, outages are affecting more than 14,000 members. All available crews and contract crews are being assembled to begin restoration. Damage assessment is underway - we have received reports of major damage to homes, farms, trees and poles. We will work as safely and quickly as possible to repair the damage and restore service.
Please report any damage by calling 903-482-7100 or by going to www.gcec.net and choosing the "report outage" tab. Our outage management system cannot accept messages or posts on social media..
7:45 p.m. - We wanted to share what we have been working through for power restoration. This is a metal sign wrapped around a transformer. We also have been working through vegetation and multiple broken poles. We have restored service to more than 1,400 members and our crews continue to work through the damage to restore service to the remaining 478 members affected by the storm.
We encourage you to remains weather aware as the storms move into our service area. These storms have been described as, "destructive, with the capability of producing hail to the size of baseballs, as well as a few tornadoes will be possible mainly after lunch time Thursday. Make sure you have a plan in place if you plan on being outdoors this afternoon & evening." - KXII meteorologist Brian Briggs
*Photo courtesy of the US National Weather Service out of Fort Worth Texas. *