Georgia Power grid emerges stronger following Hurricane Helene
Extensive damage required grid rebuilding in many areas hardest hit by historic storm; Investments continue to make grid stronger and more resilient
Watch a video message from Georgia Power CEO Kim Greene marking the anniversary of Hurricane Helene on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7377673367023218688/
ATLANTA, Oct. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- One year ago, Georgia Power announced that it had largely completed immediate restoration work following Hurricane Helene with 95 percent of impacted customers restored within 8 days of the most destructive storm in the company's history. The company mobilized its largest restoration effort ever with more than 20,000 personnel responding at the peak of restoration efforts, and partnering companies from across the country. Intensive restoration efforts were initiated in the hardest-hit areas of the state, including Valdosta, Augusta and Savannah. Several of these areas were hard-to-reach and required helicopters, boats and unmanned aerial vehicles to get responders close enough to restore power.
With the approval of the Georgia Public Service Commission, Georgia Power has invested more than $10 billion over the last decade in smart grid technology and grid resiliency. Those investments have reduced the duration and frequency of outages, and made the grid more resilient to extreme weather. During the height of Hurricane Helene, these advanced systems and automated devices prevented sustained outages for thousands of customers, automatically rerouting power around trouble areas and helping avoid thousands of hours of outage time for storm-ravaged homes, families, and businesses in some of the less-affected areas of the state such as Metro Atlanta and North Georgia. This enabled crews to quickly repair major problems and refocus their efforts on Helene's hardest-hit communities.
In the months that followed Hurricane Helene, once customers were safely reconnected as quickly as possible, the company took the time to strategically rebuild parts of the grid with smarter technology and stronger infrastructure, which included upgrading power lines, poles and transformers to enhance reliability and durability for future storms. For example, Georgia Power integrated self-healing grid technologies such as automatic electric-fault detection and automated switches helping to enhance monitoring, reliability and energy efficiency for all customers.
"We understand the importance of reliable energy for families and businesses and are working every day to plan improvements and align our investments in grid resilience to deliver the best value for customers," said Josh Stallings, vice president of strategy and support for Georgia Power. "While this is an ongoing effort that has been underway for years, following Hurricane Helene, we recognized an opportunity to upgrade sections of the grid in impacted areas while we rebuilt from the ground up in many cases, making them stronger and more resilient. We're proud to continue to be here for Georgia communities every day."
Examples of work in areas impacted by Hurricane Helene include:
- Coastal Georgia: Several basic insulation level (BIL) and sectionalizing projects have been completed in the last year benefitting more than 10,000 customers. BIL improvements consist of the hardening of poles and hardware. Sectionalizing consists of adding reclosing devices to reduce the number of customers impacted by an outage event by improving segmentation on a feeder. These projects are still underway across Savannah and coastal areas.
- East Georgia: Many sectionalizing projects in the Augusta area have taken place with more than 90 devices upgraded or added to the system that allows the grid to "self-heal." The self-healing grid isolates outages to the smallest area possible while automatically restoring power to as many as possible in seconds after an outage event occurs. This also aids in pointing crews to the exact location of the downed lines and broken poles to gather resources and complete repairs quicker.
- South Georgia: Crews have reconductored circuits in Hahira and East Valdosta with larger wire, including more than a mile of new service lines. Select lines are being moved underground to reduce the risk of sustained outages, while ten substations across Albany, Bainbridge, Tifton, Valdosta and Waycross are receiving upgrades. In addition, new staging areas have been secured to ensure faster, more efficient restoration should another storm of Helene's magnitude strike.
To learn more about Georgia Power's historic restoration efforts following Hurricane Helene, visit georgiapower.com/helene.
About Georgia Power
Georgia Power is the largest electric subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE:SO), America's premier energy company. Value, Reliability, Customer Service and Stewardship are the cornerstones of the company's promise to 2.8 million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties. Committed to delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy, Georgia Power maintains a diverse, innovative generation mix that includes nuclear, coal and natural gas, as well as renewables such as solar, hydroelectric and wind. Georgia Power offers rates below the national average, focuses on delivering world-class service to its customers every day and the company is recognized by J.D. Power as an industry leader in customer satisfaction. For more information, visit www.GeorgiaPower.com and connect with the company on Facebook (Facebook.com/GeorgiaPower), X (X.com/GeorgiaPower) and Instagram (Instagram.com/ga_power).
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SOURCE Georgia Power