WEST POINT — According to the Cullman Electric Cooperative, unprecedented growth within the county has lead to wait times of nearly two months for customers hoping to connect a new residential service to the company’s utility lines.
That’s not news to Robert George.
The three wires protruding from the weather head for a new 30 amp electrical service have remained disconnected for nearly two months after he paid his initial connection fee with the co-op. George, who began renting a piece of property in West Point with the intention of moving into a RV after having lived with his ex-wife to assist with her treatments for breast cancer, said when he enrolled in the co-op’s prepaid electrical service on March 20, he asked for estimates as to when the company expected to make the connection, but wasn’t given any information to allude to extended wait times.
Ten days later on March 30, George paid a separate deposit to have water services connected on the property. When those services were completed within only a few hours of his transaction, George said he began to make calls to the co-op requesting information on the delay. He said one representative — whose name he was unable to verify — from the co-op did mention the company had “over 200 new customers” within the last month, but according to George, seemed dismissive and didn’t provide an estimate as to when he could expect power.
“I called him, and tried to call him, and tried to speak to him like a person and he simply let me know that he ran that place, he didn’t care. I don’t have a choice, it’s not like I can go to Walmart, you know, he knows that I’m going to do exactly what I’m doing whether I like it or not. They should be able to look on a list and give me an idea like ‘They’ll get to it next Thursday,’ or whenever it is, but everybody up there just said ‘Well, they’ll get to it when they get to it,’” George said.
A representative with Florence Utilities said they have been experiencing a similar backlog, citing supply chain issues for both wire and transformers as well as recent storms in the area diverting linemen crews to restore power for existing services. Other surrounding utility companies however reported waits ranging from just one or two days to no longer than two weeks.
Manager of Communications and External Affairs for the co-op, Brian Lacy also noted supply chain issues but said the largest cause for the current delay has been increased demand for electrical service in the area.
“Cullman Electric Cooperative is experiencing one of largest and fastest seasons of growth since the early 1960s when initial efforts to electrify rural Cullman County were still underway. We are completing a record number of service requests every month. Despite that, service orders are taking much longer than usual to process due to the record high demand we have been experiencing for the past several years. We are actively working to hire additional staff. We have made changes to our work processes and are continuing to review current work processes in an effort to provide faster, more efficient service for our members. It’s frustrating, because our employees take a lot of pride in serving our members, and despite our best effort we know the quality of service our members want and deserve is not being met due to the sheer volume of work. But we are working as hard as we can every day to make it better,” Lacy said in a follow-up email sent to The Times.
The Times surveyed neighboring utility companies and found connection times varied.
Decatur Utilities — between five and 14 daysJoe Wheeler Electric Membership Corporations — no more than two weeksMarshall-Dekalb Electric Cooperative — no more than five working daysHuntsville Utilities — no more than 2 working days
George said he received a call from an inspector with the co-op on Monday saying his service had been approved and George should expect to have power within the week. George said while he was grateful to have been able to afford rent for two separate locations for the past two months, he worried how others in a similar situation would fare.
“I just think people should be told what’s going on. You know, if you are a mother with two or three kids and you’re about to get evicted, you might not have anywhere else to go. Then, to find out you have to wait two months before you get power is just crazy,” George said.