Armed with the latest tools and equipment, Eli U. has the utmost confidence in providing reliable power to those in his community and beyond.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a blue-sky day or while teaming up with his crew to restore power following Mother Nature’s wrath, like the recent ice storm in early spring, the tools and equipment are essential to keep the grid reliable for the millions of homes and businesses we serve.
“What keeps me motivated to continue on is my family and my community,” said Eli, who’s based in
Eli is one of hundreds of lineworkers who depend on reliable tools to send them home safely to their families after each shift. They also enable them to battle Mother Nature during restoration efforts.
These factors all add up to our crews completing 1,350 major projects to improve reliability in 2024.
Our reliability upgrades don’t stop there, our goals include:
- Prevent and limit outages through continuous infrastructure upgrades and enhancements to the power grid.
- For those who experience an outage, restoring power faster. Last year over 93% of customers were restored within 24 hours – an improvement from 87% in 2023.
- Continuing to reduce the amount of time customers are without power. Over the last year, the average outage time dropped by 21 minutes.
Tools, Equipment and Technology Power the Way
Eli said in his 19 years in the utility industry, battery tools have been the biggest upgrade. Lineworkers use them for drilling, fastening, cutting, and crimping. Common tools include impact drills, impact wrenches, power saws, and crimpers, all powered by batteries for portability and convenience.
“They’re such a saver on our bodies,” Eli said. “Instead of cutting wire with bolt cutters, we can use these battery-operated tools and it’s much less hard on your shoulders.”
Another useful tool? High pot sticks, a tool to determine if a line is de-energized.
“There are different attachments to find out if there’s an underground fault,” he said. “We attach them to long extension sticks, and you have to wear your gloves and sleeves. And they’re high tech, but they’re just like a great big voltmeter to help us work safely.”
He also said top-notch equipment has been helpful to work in tough to reach places during restoration efforts and upgrades.
“The advancement of bucket trucks and digger trucks has been huge,” he said. “While we’ll climb if we have to, these are just so much more efficient.”
Eli said he appreciated the company going to great lengths to establish a safe culture by providing the latest tools and tactics.
“Safety is number one and it is for all the guys. It’s a dangerous career and a dangerous job, but we have a good apprenticeship and a good union, and the company is very good about keeping safety number one,” Eli said. “We try to be as efficient as we can as well.”
For Eli, this career path has been rewarding.
“My favorite thing about being a lineman is working with your hands, being outside in different locations and you’re always moving and doing something new,” he said. “And electricity powers the world, so it feels good to provide power to new homes and restore power to those who need it.”
Crews know the frustrations outages can cause since many are customers themselves.
“We take a lot of pride as lineworkers in doing good work and we try our best,” Eli said. “I promise you we’re out there trying our best to restore power even when it’s raining and it’s cold, we’re still working and we’ll still get it done.”
