DIANE SAUNDERS / Sierra Vista Herald / June 19, 2000

COCHISE COUNTY - When the power goes out, the service comes on, at least if youre a customer of Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative or Arizona Electric Power Cooperative.

Outages in Sierra Vista, St. David and near Tombstone Sunday night left about 825 customers without power for several hours. About 125 customers on Sierra Vistas east side lost power about 9 p.m. because of a fault in an underground cable. Power was restored by 3 a.m.

In St. David and the rural area surrounding Tombstone, about 700 customers lost power about 6 p.m. because lightning struck the top of a transmission pole. Power was out for 30 to 60 minutes, depending on a customers location.

But losing power was no excuse for being late for work this morning. Thats because Arizona Electric, also known as AEPCO, offered to make wake-up calls to SSVEC customers.

SSVEC spokesman Wayne Crane said this morning that AEPCO dispatch, which handles after hours emergency calls for SSVEC, offered the calls to customers who said they were concerned about having no power for their alarm clocks. He said AEPCO personnel also offered to call customers to let them know when power was restored.

Crane said SSVEC workers will find the faulty cable this week and make repairs, then bring customers back on to their original hookup.

In St. David and rural Tombstone, workers first rerouted power, then located the damaged pole. The pole was replaced Sunday evening.

Everything is back to normal there, Crane said.

http://www.svherald.com/news/stories/00061902n.html

-- Doris (reaper1@mindspring.com), June 22, 2000