Last week, Winter Storm Fern brought historic, system-wide ice damage across our region. Heavy ice and prolonged subfreezing temperatures downed trees, power lines and critical infrastructure, disrupting service to homes and businesses. SWEPCO crews mobilized quickly – well in advance of the storm – and worked around the clock to restore service safely.
To our customers, we are deeply grateful for your patience and understanding as our team worked to restore service safely and quickly. Thank you for checking on neighbors, staying patient during delays, and supporting us as we worked through dangerous conditions.
I also appreciate the generosity of our community partners. Countless organizations and individuals provided key support to our restoration efforts, including meal planning, lodging, and coordination across many fronts. We are grateful to each of you.
Thank you to each employee and utility professional who answered the call as part of mutual assistance, the hallmark of our industry, and joined with SWEPCO to serve you. Wind gusts, icy terrain, bitterly cold temperatures and treacherous roadways made restoration difficult, yet each of you worked tirelessly and with great care to bring power back to our communities.
Before the storm arrived, we activated our pre-storm preparations: pre-staging crews, securing materials, coordinating logistics, and positioning mobile resources to support areas with anticipated heavy damage. During restoration, these mobile resources allowed us to reinforce crews amid rapidly changing conditions and respond effectively to new outages.
To further strengthen our response, thousands of skilled utility professionals from more than 14 states arrived early through mutual assistance deployments. We established four major base camps in Texarkana, Ark.; Longview, Texas, Shreveport, La.; and Natchitoches, La. to support our teams with meals, shelter, equipment and coordination as they worked long hours to repair extensive damage across hundreds of miles of power lines.
Our efforts were supported by investments in making our system more resilient. This work in 2025 included:
• Inspection of over 80,000 poles and replacing more than 17,000 of those
• Millions invested in proactive tree trimming and infrastructure hardening improvements
• Comprehensive storm response drills that guided our seamless execution
These measures strengthened our system ahead of the storm.
Thank you for the understanding and strength you’ve shown in the days since Winter Storm Fern. We prepared for this storm, and we are preparing for the next—because serving you is our purpose, and we take that to heart. SWEPCO has been powering the places we call home since 1912, and that responsibility guides every decision we make. We’re continuing the hard work of making our system stronger, more capable and more resilient so it can serve you well in every season. We’ll keep proving that commitment through consistent, dependable action, day after day, in every kind of weather. I’m grateful for you, and proud to call this community home.
— Brett Mattison
President & Chief Operating Officer, SWEPCO