December 2007 brought the worst ice storm in PSO's history to the Tulsa area and parts of northeastern Oklahoma. PSO had 226,000 customers without service in the Tulsa, which is about 78% of our Tulsa customers.

The electric system, itself, had 750 broken distribution poles and 147 downed transmission poles. Thousands of power lines were downed, and the Tulsa urban forest was pretty much leveled in many locations.

More than 4,600 restoration workers from across the United States came to help PSO crews bring the lights back on.

Here is a pictorial review of the storm and the service restoration effort.

• View slideshow of the storm and restoration effort (143 images)
  

Tulsa City Council Commendation

• The Tulsa City Council commended PSO, other AEP subsidiaries, and external crews, for their incredible efforts on storm restoration (PDF: 212 KB : get viewer).

Tulsa World editorials Reprinted with permission from the Tulsa World

• Quick response getting power back on (12/16/07)
• Icy lesson (12/16/07)
• To the rescue (12/16/07)

KJOJ - Tulsa radio station

• Storm Song (MP3 : 3:22 length: 3.08 MB: get viewer )

Thank You's

• Letters to the Editor Tulsa World (PDF: 441 KB : get viewer)
  Reprinted with permission from the Tulsa World

My family can not thank you enough for your quick attention to our power problem. We were feeling very frustrated and extremely tired and you were the calming voice we needed. You made us feel like we were important and you continued to apologize for the lack of communication we had received on the phone from customer service. I assure you it did not fall on deaf ears. We are very appreciative of the way you handled the situation and again you made us feel that we mattered to you and PSO.

The team you sent out was extremely friendly and made quick work of our problem. They came approximately 54 minutes after your call which is within the time you told us they would be at our home. They laid a temporary line in about 20 minutes and we now have heat in our home.

Again, thank you for help and please thank again those that helped us with our power outage. We are praying that everyone gets their power back by Christmas so your employees will have a Merry Christmas of their own.

---

With Heartfelt Thanks
As we celebrate the beginning of a new year, we also breathe a sigh of relief after "weathering" the worst ice storm in memory. Aren't you proud how Tulsans came together to help one another?

It was an incredible effort. Public servants like city employees, fire, police, EMSA, postal workers, paper carriers and numerous social service agencies deserve our deep gratitude. The Tulsa Area Chapter, American Red Cross -- which is always there for us when disaster strikes -- marshaled volunteers who established 34 shelters in Green Country. The Red Cross provided 30,000 meals and housed more than 1,900 people who had no where else to go. The Salvation Army, John 3:16, Cox Communications, and so many others also helped our neighbors in crisis.

And what a commendable job by PSO! Tulsa -- a city always known for its very caring and generous spirit -- experienced the receiving end as we welcomed 5,000 power crew workers and tree trimmers from across the country. For two weeks, these heroes worked long and cold days to restore power to our neighborhoods. For each of those cities represented, your board is drafting letters to the editor expressing our community's thanks from the Rotary Club of Tulsa.

--Downtown Tulsa Rotary Club

Customer Outages
At the peak of the storm: 

• Approx. 260,000 customers were without service across our Oklahoma service territory (about half of our customers statewide).
• 226,500 customers without service in the City of Tulsa (78% of PSO's Tulsa customers). 

Total Storm Restoration Workers

• 4,600 restoration workers (compared to 600 Distribution workers normally engaged in Tulsa), plus 600 support personnel.
• Field restoration workforce comprised 2,400 line workers and 2,200 tree trimmers. 

Total Storm Restoration Crews

• 560 Restoration Line Crews (compared to 22 Distribution line crews normally engaged in Tulsa).
• 700 Restoration Tree crews (compared to 200 Tree crews normally engaged for PSO across the state).

Storm Restoration Labor-Hours

• On average, Restoration Crews worked 16-hour days.
• In Tulsa, 73,600 Manhours/day (line crews + tree crews + support personnel).

Structure Damage

• 750-800 Distribution poles broken.
• Approx. 150 Transmission poles broken.

Customer Calls To PSO Customer Solutions Center (Dec. 9-19)

• More than 512,600 calls.