DAYTON – AES Ohio, a subsidiary of The AES Corporation, was announced as an Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Emergency Response Award recipient.
Presented to EEI member companies twice a year, the Emergency Response Awards recognize recovery and assistance efforts of electric companies following service disruptions caused by extreme weather or other natural events. The winners were chosen by a panel of judges following an international nomination process. The awards were presented during EEI’s Board of Directors and CEO meeting held in conjunction with EEI’s annual meeting and thought leadership forum.
AES Ohio experienced two spring severe weather events with multiple tornadoes on Feb. 28 and March 14. The duration of both storm systems lasted more five hours causing widespread damage to electrical equipment including more than 300 downed transmission and distribution poles.
“At AES Utilities, our strength lies in our dedicated team who keeps our service running every day,” said Tom Raga, AES Ohio. “The EEI Emergency Response Award recognizes their hard work and safety focus when our customers need us the most. The number of weather systems with tornadoes has risen, we commend our crews for restoring power to our customers following these extreme conditions.”
On Feb. 28, an EF-1 tornado with wind speeds of 100 mph touched down in Montgomery County and Wright Patterson AFB damaging trees, electrical infrastructure, homes and airplanes. On March 14, an EF-3 tornado moved through Auglaize and Logan Counties then two EF-2 tornadoes in Darke, Miami and Union Counties. One of the tornadoes touched down in Logan County devastating Orchard Island at Indian Lake and tragically resulted in the loss of three lives. National Weather Service in Wilmington confirmed five tornadoes. Collectively, more than 36,000 customers were without power during peak outage for the storm events.
AES announced they were proud of the efficiency the restoration activities, stating no other single metric is as important as safety. They were also thankful for a safe incident-free recovery for both events.
“America’s electric companies work around the clock to restore power following severe storms and other extreme weather events,” said EEI President and CEO Dan Brouillette. “AES Ohio’s commitment to restoring power in a safe, efficient manner to the communities it serves following two severe spring storm systems and tornadoes is admirable. AES Ohio and its storm response team are extremely deserving of this well-earned recovery award.”
About AES Ohio
AES Ohio is the principal subsidiary of DPL Inc. (DPL), a regional energy provider and an AES company. AES Ohio, a regulated electric utility, provides service to more than 539,000 customers in West Central Ohio. During its long history, AES Ohio has served its customers with the lowest distribution and transmission rates in Ohio among investor-owned utilities. Connect with AES Ohio on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Learn more about how AES Ohio is accelerating the future of energy, visit aes-ohio.com.
About Edison Electric Institute (EEI)
EEI is the association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. Their members provide electricity for more than 235 million Americans, and operate in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The electric power industry supports more than 7 million jobs in communities across the United States. In addition to our U.S. members, EEI has more than 65 international electric companies, with operations in more than 90 countries, as International Members, and hundreds of industry suppliers and related organizations as Associate Members.
