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Snakes, Mother Nature and power outages

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A generic picture of a snake in the grass.

It started back in April. Two power outages, same cause – a snake. That’s right, a snake is to blame for putting hundreds, even thousands, of members in the dark.

Back on April 14, over 850 members served out of the Barefoot substation were left without power. Horry Electric’s linemen investigated and found the snake inside the substation on a regulator. A regulator is what helps maintain a constant voltage level along the power lines. The regulator does exactly as it sounds – it regulates the voltage as the amount of load on the lines change.

Fast forward to April 23. Nearly 2,100 members lost power out of the Lake Ridge substation. Why? A snake was able to get into a tricky spot and caused the entire substation to go out.

Now, fast forward to June 29. Another 2,500 members woke up to no power all because of a snake. These are considered major outages, but we have seen a couple of smaller outages where a snake is down the line somewhere.

Some of you have asked why an animal, such as a snake, is able to cause a power outage. Here’s why: “Whether it be a tree limb, a bird, a squirrel or snake… anything that has the ability to conduct electricity has the potential to short-circuit the electrical flow,” explains Jeff Spivey, Horry Electric’s substation and apparatus supervisor.

It’s summertime, which means the animals are out and about and sometimes they get into places, like substations, and cause outages. The tricky thing about snakes are their long bodies and until it’s removed, there’s going to be an outage rather than a power blink like a squirrel causes.

Animals on the lines vs. in the substation

Basically, it works the same – a short-circuit is a short-circuit. “The only big difference is the amount of fault current in the substation. The fault current is at a higher value than somewhere down the line,” says Spivey. “It will short-circuit, but it will be more violent at the substation.”

The way the system is designed to work is wherever an animal comes in contact, there’s a device up the line that’s going to clear the fault. For example, a snake gets on a transformer on a power pole that might serve three houses; the up-line sectionalizing device, which is the transformer fuse, will clear the fault.

“It’s kind of like a domino effect… wherever that up-line device falls in the sequence, from that point down is going to be out of power. It keeps outages down, but it’s also a safety factor, too,” Spivey explains.

This, of course, differs in the substation because you’re at the source of the power transformer. “At Lake Ridge, the up-line device was a circuit switcher, which feeds the power transformer, which feeds over 2,000 people,” Spivey said. “The circuit switcher did what it was supposed to do. As a result, everyone went out because the problem was reserved right within that substation.”

To backfeed or not to backfeed?

Once crews are able to diagnose the outage problem in the field, the next question they have to ask is if it makes sense to backfeed?

When it comes to an outage down the lines, sometimes crews are able to backfeed by opening one or two switches. It’s not that easy when it comes to an entire substation.

“It’s a judgment call when you’re out there,” Spivey says. Another major thing to consider is the load on the system. “You might be able to backfeed in January, February or March, but June, July and August… the loads may be too great.”

Working to prevent animal-caused outages

Horry Electric’s Supervisory Engineer Kevin Jordan pulled the outage records for the last 10 years. “The records indicate, including substation and downline outages, we’ve had nearly 60 outages caused by snakes since 2010,” Jordan says.

Some of you might ask why this is becoming more common. The answer is simple: snakes are after food. Crews are constantly on the lookout for bird nests. Birds come around looking for other critters, so we use an environmentally friendly granular deterrent, to run away critters, which in turn, moves the snakes away.

“There is still an act of nature that we can’t prevent. In some of the latest episodes, we believe a bird had the snake in its mouth and dropped it from the sky, right where he didn’t need to be,” said Mitchell Benton, supervisory engineer. “Rest assured, crews are always looking at ways to protect animals and critters, while at the same time, assuring we deliver safe, reliable and affordable electricity to our members’ homes and businesses.”

Restoration times will vary

There is no way to predict an outage restoration time, unfortunately. Whether it’s a storm related outage, an animal related outage, or an equipment failure, outage times are going to vary. Restoration times vary based on where the problem is, especially if it happens in a substation.

It’s important to remember that conditions change based on Mother Nature. Members and our crews also have to remember “Scenarios change, situations change, the environment changes… so you have to have to make wise decisions based upon all of that data put together. As long as you can do that, that makes power restoration go a whole lot easier and a lot more fluent, and naturally, it’s safer and more efficient,” Spivey says.

Rest assured, our crews will work as quickly and safely as possible to make sure your power is restored. As we always say: Your patience and prayers are appreciated.

Members required to wear face masks in compliance with county ordinance

Horry County Council Ordinance

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Horry County face mask requirement poster.

Horry County Council passed a face mask ordinance on Friday, July 3. In order to effectively keep our members and employees safe, Horry Electric will be requiring members to wear a mask to enter the Conway or Socastee office buildings starting Monday, July 6.

The ordinance will remain in effect for 60 days from the July 3 start, unless terminated sooner by the county council.

We appreciate your patience and understanding. We will get through this together.

As stated on the poster from Horry County, visit horrycounty.org for more information.

Call the DHEC Care Line at 1-855-472-3432 with questions about COVID-19.

SCL July edition online now!

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Horry Electric’s cover of the July 2020 edition of South Carolina Living magazine.

The July 2020 edition of South Carolina Living magazine has been uploaded to horryelectric.com!  It will be delivered to mailboxes of subscribing members soon!

The main part of South Carolina Living magazine, which can also be found online includes the usual recipes, plus a few feature articles about interesting people and places in our own state!

The July 2020 edition has six pages dedicated to local news about your co-op.   Highlights include: 

  • CEO Column– Coronavirus response continues; Hurricane season is here – how you can stay ahead and prepare.
  • Co-op born and raised: Horry Electric’s Penelope Hinson has retires after 31 years of service. Read about her journey and the legacy she leaves behind.
  • Various co-op news: We’re always CONNECTED; Bright Ideas grant application deadline extended.
  • Answering the call: Take a look into one of our departments, consisting of four men who do it all – the servicemen.
  • Generating your own power?: Generators are a high concern during storms, but especially during hurricane season. What you need to know and how you can help keep our crews safe.

Go green with E-Bill in July, be entered into a prize drawing!

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Horry Electric is working hard to encourage members to go paperless and sign up for E-Bill with a limited time offer to new participants.  “A member who qualifies and successfully signs up as an E-Bill participant between July 1 and 11:59 PM on July 31, 2020, will be automatically entered into a prize drawing for one of ten $50 electric bill credits,” says Danny Shelley, executive vice president and CEO.   The bill credits will be awarded to the winning entrants on Monday, August 3, 2020.   Contest rules are outlined at the bottom of this blog post.

Signing up for E-bill makes paying your electric bill easier. “This means no more trips to your mailbox for your electric bill,” says Shelley. “It’s a green, easy, secure and convenient way to receive your bill.”

When a member signs up, Horry Electric will begin automatically sending your monthly electric bill to the email address associated with your account.

The limited-time offer is for NEW participants only. All member accounts are eligible to participate.  The contest rules are outlined below.

The best way to sign up is to visit MyEnergy Online. Members may also call Horry Electric during regular business hours at 843.369.2211 for more information.

How to sign up online or via the HEC Mobile app:

  1. Log into MyEnergy Online
    • You will need your account number and password to sign in
  2. Click the “My Account” tab
  3. On the drop-down menu, select “E-notifications”
  4. Select “E-Bill”
  5. Select the account you’d like to sign up for E-Bill notifications and click “Continue”

PLEASE NOTE: An email address is required to sign up for E-Bill.


Horry Electric Cooperative, Inc.
E-Bill Sign-Up Competition & Prizes
Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions

1. No Purchase or Entry Fee Required.

2. Timing. The E-Bill Sign-Up Competition & Prizes (“Promotion”) begins at 12:01 AM Eastern Time (“ET”) on July 1, 2020, and ends at 11:59 PM ET on July 31, 2020 (the “Promotion Period”).

3. Overview. This promotion is a submission contest solely intended for members of Horry Electric Cooperative, Inc. (“Cooperative”) who currently are not registered for E-Bill but who sign up for E-bill during the Promotion Period. Interested parties (the “Entrant” or “Submitter”) may be:

a)     an individual member of the Cooperative (“Entrant”), or

b)     an individual member entering on behalf of a legally-registered organization or association that is a member of the Cooperative (“Submitter”).

Entrants and/or Submitters may sign up for E-Bill, and ten randomly selected Entrants will be awarded a $50.00 (USD) bill credit on their next bill from the Cooperative.

4. To Enter. Entrants and/or Submitters may enter online by visiting MyEnergy Online to sign up in the member portal or by calling us at 843.369.2211 during regular business hours. Entrants and/or Submitters must enter only one submission per email address. Entries submitted in violation of the contest entry rules will not be considered [be void]. All entries become the property of the Cooperative and will not be returned. All entries must be received by 11:59 PM ET on July 31, 2020, the official end date of the Promotion Period.

5. Eligibility. Entrant and/or Submitter must be at least eighteen (18) years of age at time of entry, and the Entrant and/or Submitter must be a member of the Cooperative.  The following are not eligible to participate: a) officers, directors, and employees of the Cooperative; and b) the immediate family members (spouse, parents, children, siblings, and their respective spouses) of Cooperative employees and household members with whom they may reside (whether related or not); existing members of the Cooperative who are currently signed up for E-Bill. This Promotion is void outside of South Carolina and is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws.

6. Judging Criteria. Ten winners will be randomly drawn from all properly submitted registration entries on August 3, 2020.

7. Prize Awarding. The ten winners will be randomly selected and announced on or about August 4, 2020 from among all eligible entries received. The ten winners will be notified by phone that the credit has been applied to their respective accounts.

8. Prizes/Odds. There will be ten (10) prizes awarded: ten $50.00 (USD) statement credits on the member’s next bill from the Cooperative. Odds of winning will be based on a random drawing from the total group of eligible submissions.

9. Terms/Conditions.

a)     By signing up, Entrant warrants and represents that he/she is a member of a South Carolina Electric Cooperative;
b)     By signing up, Submitter warrants and represents that he/she registered a legally-registered organization or association that is a member of the Cooperative;
c)     The Cooperative reserves the right to disqualify any submission at any time in the event the Cooperative determines, in its sole discretion, that the submission is inappropriate, not in keeping with Cooperative’s image, or that an Entrant or Submitter has not otherwise complied with these Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions;
d)     By claiming a prize, the winner agrees that the Cooperative, and its officers, employees, members, affiliates, agents, and advertising and promotional agencies, [do not have any] have no liability whatsoever for any injuries, losses, or damages of any kind related to participation in this Promotion, or from acceptance or use/misuse of any prize offered;
e)     Acceptance of a prize shall constitute the winner’s agreement that the Cooperative or its agent(s) may use and/or display the winner’s name, address (city, state only), likeness, entry (and content) and/or prize information, without limitation, for promotional purposes, without further consideration, except where prohibited by law;
f)     You agree to release Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or other social media platform and acknowledge that this promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or other social media platform;
g)     All taxes on prizes (if applicable) are the sole responsibility of the winner;
h)     Prizes are not transferable or assignable, except to a surviving spouse, or at the sole discretion of the Cooperative.

10. Direct Marketing. By entering the Promotion, Entrant acknowledges that he/she may receive various marketing or other information from the Cooperative or its affiliated member electric cooperatives regarding their products or services. If an Entrant does not desire to receive this information, an Entrant may opt out by calling 843.369.2211 or emailing Service@horryelectric.com

11. Sponsor. Horry Electric Cooperative, Inc., 2774 Cultra Road, Conway, SC 29526.

Void outside of South Carolina and wherever prohibited or restricted by law.