APS Crews Head to Puerto Rico to Assist with Power Restoration

PHOENIX–(BUSINESS WIRE)–APS
is sending 50 line workers and support staff to Puerto Rico in early
January to assist with ongoing power restoration efforts on the island.
Hundreds of thousands of customers remain without electricity after
powerful hurricanes hit the island in September.

The crews going from APS will be part of a nationwide
mutual assistance effort, sending nearly 1,500 electric workers to
bolster restoration efforts on the island. Ahead of crews’ arrival in
early January, APS is transporting vehicles and equipment via barges
from the Port of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Crews and support staff making the 3,000-mile journey to Puerto Rico
represent a diverse swath of APS’s territory with employees coming from
Yuma, Douglas, Cottonwood, Surprise, Buckeye, Goodyear, Paradise Valley
and Phoenix. These crews will join the nearly 5,500 restoration workers
already on the island who are assisting the Puerto
Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA). PREPA, along with FEMA
and the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), has been running an emergency
command center on the island since early December. APS has committed
crews to the island through mid-March.

Providing mutual assistance is not new to APS. In 2012, APS
sent crews to help with restoration efforts in New York after Superstorm
Sandy, and early last year to assist with efforts in Northern
California after major storms caused flooding and toppled power lines.

“APS did not hesitate to answer the call for help,” says Jacob
Tetlow, APS’s VP of Transmission and Distribution Operations. “Our
team is working to support the people of Puerto Rico because it is the
right thing to do. APS is proud to be a part of this effort, and we look
forward to working hand-in-hand with energy companies from around the
country to help restore power to the citizens of Puerto Rico.”

APS
serves about 2.7 million people in 11 of Arizona’s 15 counties, and is
the Southwest’s foremost producer of clean, safe and reliable
electricity. Using a balanced energy mix that is nearly 50 percent
carbon-free, APS has one of the country’s most substantial renewable
energy portfolios, and owns and operates the Palo Verde Generating
Station, the country’s top power producer and largest producer of
carbon-free energy. The company is also a proven leader in introducing
technology and services that offer customers choice and control over
their energy consumption. With headquarters in Phoenix, APS is the
principal subsidiary of Pinnacle
West Capital Corp. (NYSE: PNW).

Contacts

APS
Media Contact:
Annie DeGraw, 602-502-3856
Website: aps.com/newsroom