After thunder, lightning, strong winds, rain, snow or ice disrupts your power, that’s when we start restoration work. The more boots and trucks on the ground, the better. I&M and our parent company, AEP, are part of a nationwide group of power companies that help each other when significant power outages occur.
Line worker walking through thick mud to restore power in Louisiana after Hurricane Ida in 2021.
“Restoring power to customers after a devastating storm is a mission we are proud to tackle. We have a strong desire to help others in their time of need whether that’s here at home or across the country,” said Scott Bennett, Region Support manager. “Mutual assistance is where utility companies join together and pledge to help each other when we need it the most.”
There are seven mutual assistance groups located geographically across the United States. AEP has operating companies in eleven states, including Indiana and Michigan. We belong to four of the seven groups.
“Our employees are a special group of individuals. It takes dedication and commitment to sign up to leave their families – often at a moment’s notice – and miss important events back home,” said Dave Isaacson, vice president Distribution Region Operations. “When poor weather hits, our first priority is restoring power for I&M customers, and once that’s done it’s common for us to go elsewhere to help. We have a long list of frontline workers who travel out of town to help restore power in different states.”
I&M has answered multiple mutual assistance calls in dozens of states after destructive ice storms, tornadoes and hurricanes. Employees even assisted in 2017 when Hurricane Maria catastrophically damaged Puerto Rico’s electrical power system.
“The destruction in Puerto Rico was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, and I’ve deployed to several hurricane restorations,” said Nate Allen, Line Crew supervisor based in Elkhart. “What stays with me is how appreciative the people were that we were restoring their power. They even invited us into their homes for food and handed out coffee and water.”
When I&M responds, we provide a contingent of workers including a management team, damage assessors, safety professionals, fleet mechanics, line workers and tree trimming experts.
Before I&M asks for help from other utilities, we rely on other AEP operating companies. AEP’s emergency preparedness managers decide how to best allocate resources. When predictions exceed what we believe we can handle, I&M asks for help.
“There’s a lot of planning and information gathering before we ask for or provide mutual assistance,” Bennett said. “We engage with AEP’s meteorologists to forecast potential threats at home and where we can help the restoration effort. We also factor in driving distance and ensure there’s a strong balance of our employees across our service area.”
There is a local rotation in place to select which employees will be deployed for storm restoration. If possible, I&M will send contract crews to join the effort.
“I’m always impressed and appreciative with our employees’ willingness to travel across Indiana and Michigan, in neighboring states, far away states and even across oceans to help restore power to people amid a natural disaster,” Isaacson said. “The sacrifices our employees’ families make so we can help strangers turn their lights on doesn’t go unnoticed either. Often times our deployed workers miss birthdays, holidays and graduations to restore normalcy to others.”
Regardless of an outage here at home or across the United States, rest assured I&M will be there to make sure your lights, air conditioning and heat is back on as safely and as quickly as possible.