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CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - With temperatures dropping and Christmas lights shining, many people want to make sure they can count on their electricity.
Shots fired at power grids in Ridgeway, South Carolina and in Moore County, North Carolina left thousands of people in the dark. In case this were to happen in the Lowcountry, local energy providers say they’re on alert.
Santee Cooper, the state’s largest power provider, says since the attacks, they have raised their alert level as precaution at their substations. One official says there is nationwide tracking of this type of activity, and they raise and lower the alert status weekly based on that information.
As a state-owned agency with their own law enforcement, Tracy Vreeland, public relations specialist at Santee Cooper, says this type of incident isn’t uncommon.
“Unfortunately, this is a part of working in the energy industry,” Vreeland said. “We always have to be on alert for attacks whether its domestic or terrorists.”
Dominion Energy provided a statement on behalf of their security measures:
Dominion Energy is aware of the incidents at multiple energy facilities in North and South Carolina this week. Our security procedures rely on an integrated set of protections to safeguard the grid. Dominion Energy personnel are communicating with federal, state, and local law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and industry peers to proactively assess these incidents.
Both Santee Cooper and Dominion Energy say their safety plans are federally classified and they will not release specific information on their security.
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