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Pole Testing to be completed by Osmose

Beginning Monday, September 21, Osmose, a contractor working on behalf of UDWI, will be conducting utility pole testing in the Little Cincinnati, Hobbieville, and Kirksville areas.

Osmose crews and vehicles will be clearly marked with the Osmose company name and will also display a placard identifying them as a UDWI Contractor. You may see crews along roadways, near utility poles, or accessing poles located on or near private property.

This testing is an important part of maintaining a safe and reliable electric system. Crews will inspect and test poles to evaluate their condition and structural integrity. This work helps us identify poles needing maintenance or replacement.

We appreciate your patience and cooperation while Osmose crews complete this important work in our service territory.

Policy Change: Electric Payments in Cash FAQs

What is the change?

When you pay your electric bill in cash, we will no longer be able to provide pennies as change.

What happens if you cannot provide exact change?

Your bill will be rounded up to the nearest nickel. Any difference in cost will be added as a credit to your account.

Will you still accept pennies as payment?

Yes, we will accept pennies still, but we cannot provide them to you as change.

UDWI REMC Thanks the Cooperative Community for Support During June Storm Outages

Utilities District of Western Indiana REMC would like to say “thank you” to all the cooperative members, employees, outside crews, and our communities for your support during last month’s supercell storm that ripped through our service territory. 

Messages from members were extremely encouraging as line and tree trimming crews worked day and night to replace nearly 100 poles, repair hundreds of lines, and restore 415 separate outages that affected 10,101 electric meters. This work accounted for 1,855 hours of labor throughout the week. We can’t thank you enough for your understanding, patience and kind words during this weather event. 

UDWI’s line crews also received assistance throughout the week from fellow cooperatives, contractors, and peers in the industry including: USC, Electricom, Intren, Hendricks Power, Boone County REMC, Henry County REMC, Parke County REMC, Clark County REMC, Daviess-Martin County REMC, Haley Brothers, and Hoosier Energy. In total, 57 outside employees stepped up to support UDWI which totaled 4,300 hours of contract labor, and we would like to express our gratitude to these crews for their hard work and sacrifice to assist us. 

Finally, our greatest appreciation to all UDWI team members from the line crews, Hoosier Heritage Management tree trimming, office personnel, dispatch, customer service representatives and more. You all played a major part in restoring power and providing excellent service to our members. CSRs answered more than 500 calls per day during the outage event, and leadership who worked nonstop to support crews in the field. This was a true team effort, and it does not go unnoticed. 

While we hope these outage events are few and far between, we stay prepared and ready to serve you, the member, when the next one hits.  

UDWI CEO, Doug Childs, Provides Update on Storm Restoration

From UDWI CEO Doug Childs:

“First and foremost, we share in your frustration and getting power restored is the most important issue facing us all. This storm produced straight line, 80-mph winds, similar to hurricane force winds, which resulted in some of the worst damage we’ve experienced in decades. 

We have 26 crews actively working to repair the hundreds of areas that are damaged. The number of people working on this outage is the most ever deployed in our territory and includes our entire team and all line crews, five neighboring cooperatives, two additional contractors and dedicated tree trimming crews. Crews are working 16-18 hours per day and will continue to do so until everyone is restored.

There is often no quick way to restore power, especially with the amount of broken poles, completely severed lines and debris we are facing.  We understand that everyone’s patience is wearing thin, and we realize the incredible inconvenience that you are weathering. Please know that repairs must be done methodically and safely, and we are working as quickly as we can.

We believe we will make significant progress today, but please be aware that we expect restoration and repair efforts to continue through Friday, June 28. 

We will continue to provide updates on our social media page and website. Please stay safe and know that we are sending help your way.”

UDWI REMC Gives Update on Storm Damage and Restoration

Utilities District of Western Indiana REMC would like to thank members for their patience as we work to assess damages and restore power as a result of the recent storm system. Line crews are out making repairs and working to restore power safely and efficiently. We’ve also called in assistance from other co-ops, as well as tree and line contractors, and we thank those crews for their willingness to help as our crews have worked through the night and continue to be in the field.

At this time, we do not have estimated restoration times due to the volume and severity of the weather-related outages. Please know we are working hard to get all members on as quickly as possible, while keeping our crews safe as they work in these conditions. The damage is extensive across our service territory, and we still have over 5,000 members without power as of 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 26. Currently, we have over 20 broken poles and anticipate finding more as the day continues. Outages caused by broken poles can take three hours to replace, in addition to the time spent returning to headquarters to get the necessary equipment.

As a reminder, members can report an outage by calling the UDWI office (812-384-4446), using the UDWI app (UDWI REMC in the App Store and Google Play Store), or via UDWI’s texting service. During a large storm situation, please be sure to use one of these options instead of reporting through Facebook to help ensure our dispatch team sees your outage. Comments and messages during this time can be hard to track due to the large quantity. Dispatch is also working hard to update the Outage Management System which has been overloaded throughout the night and some areas may be experiencing glitches.

We share in your frustration as our employees, line crews, their families and our entire community feel the impact of this storm and many of us are still without power as well. Thank you again for your patience and understanding, and please be safe!