Update: First Electric Outages Down to 700

Employees and contractors will continue to work until everyone is restored.

Update 8:45 a.m., Sunday
First Electric is currently working to restore power to about 1,700 customers. Roughly 1,500 of those customers are in Saline County.

According to the company, seven of the 30 broken poles in Saline County remain to be set today, but they are in difficult places to access and require special equipment.

First Electric anticipated that all customers would have their power back on by this evening.

Update 5:45 p.m., Saturday
First Electric Cooperative crews continue to make progress and have restored power to more than 1,000 members since 8 a.m. Approximately 2,500 members remain without power.

The cooperative anticipates their service will be restored by Sunday.

Update 8:30 a.m., Saturday
First Electric Cooperative now has roughly 3,800 customers in the dark.

Crews restored power overnight to more than 1,500 members. With the exception of the crews working to restore isolated outages in the Jacksonville and Perryville districts, all First Electric employees and contractors are focusing their efforts on the Benton district.

They are on track to restore the approximately 3,500 members who remain without service in the Benton district by Sunday.

Update 2:45 p.m. Friday
First Electric now reports outages below 10,000. As of 2:45 p.m., about 9,900 customers were in the dark.

The majority of those without power are in Saline County. Its currently reporting 7915 outages.

Crews are continuing to work in the Benton district to restore power to members served by Availla, Congo and Tull. First Electric is reporting the outages should be restored in the next 36 hours.

The Jacksonville and Perryville districts are still scheduled to be restored by end of day.

Update 8:00 a.m. Friday
First Electric Cooperative has restored power to more than 19,000 members following the winter storms on Christmas Day. Approximately 11,000 members remain without power, but First Electric employees and contractors continue to work diligently to get everyone's service restored.

Crews have located additional damage in Saline County. Because of that, as well as the hazardous conditions, First Electric estimates the remaining outages will be restored in the next 48 hours.

Update 5:30 a.m. Friday
First Electric Cooperative reports its outages are now down to 14,000 with the majority being in Saline County.

The agency reports headway is being made in the Benton, Jacksonville and Perryville districts.

In the Benton district, crews have energized all or parts of the Avilla, Congo and Crows substations.

In the Jacksonville district, crews have restored power to additional subdivisions, and in the Perryville district, crews have made steady progress.

You can track First Electric outages by clicking here.

Update 6:30 a.m. Thursday
First Electric Cooperative reports it was able to restore power to 3,000 customers overnight.

Out of the five districts that First Electric service; Heber Springs, Perryville and Stuttgart have the majority of their outages isolated. Jacksonville and Benton are working to resolve some of the larger outages - many of which should be resolved when Entergy repairs transmission lines that feed Avilla, Congo and Crows substations, according to a news release.

Update 9:30 p.m. Wednesday
First Electric Cooperative employees and contractors continue to work on restoring power to the approximately 23,000 members still affected by winter storms. Additional crews are being brought in tomorrow to aid in the restoration effort.

Based on the information available, First Electric estimates all members will be able to receive electricity by Friday night.

Original Story:
First Electric Cooperative released the following statement to its customers:

"Service now is restored to First Electric Cooperative's Collegeville, Alentejo and Hot Springs Village East substations.

In addition, Entergy representatives expect the transmission line issues affecting the Avilla, Congo and Crow substations to be resolved by late tonight or early tomorrow morning. However, the energizing of the substations does not necessarily mean all members served by them immediately will have power. There could be problems with First Electric's feeder lines that crews will not know about until the substations are in service.

First Electric has 150 employees and contractors in the field, and crews will work throughout the night.

As of 4:30 p.m., First Electric's outage reporting number (888-827-3322) and main number (800-489-7405) remained in service. Due to the number of calls, members might have to try to call in more than once to access the outage reporting system or directory. At this time, the number of members without service being reported by First Electric's Outage Viewer is not accurate. The cooperative's communications systems were down for more than 12 hours due to a CenturyLink issue earlier in the day, and the system is trying to catch up to real-time data.

Approximately 23,000 members remain without service. That number is down from more than 30,000 this morning."