After several days of hard work restoring power in the Augusta, Georgia area, Savannah Electric’s storm team returned home safely Thursday afternoon.

The team left Savannah on Monday amid deteriorating weather conditions, unsure of the duration or ultimate destination of their trip. On reaching the Augusta area, they went to work right away, helping to restore power to some of the tens of thousands of Georgians impacted by the storms and icy conditions.

The team was requested by Savannah Electric’s sister company, Georgia Power, in anticipation of widespread outages caused by the winter weather. The 18 Savannah Electric employees were from both Savannah and Springfield Operations Centers.

Savannah Electric also released its contractors from Pike Electric for emergency storm response, representing an additional 21 workers. Savannah Electric understands that those workers were sent on into the Carolinas for further storm restoration work.

As part of a mutual assistance agreement with other utilities, Savannah Electric responds to emergency assistance requests when its own service area is not threatened and would receive similar assistance during local emergencies. Savannah Electric most recently provided help to PEPCO in Maryland and Dominion Resources in Virginia after Hurricane Isabel last fall. In early January, the company was one of just 12 utilities recognized for such efforts with an Emergency Assistance Award from the Edison Electric Institute.

Savannah Electric and Georgia Power are both subsidiaries of Southern Company, one of the largest electricity producers in the United States.