2025 System Reliability Actions and Investments

All figures are year-end projections.

Animal Guards

8,100+
Animal Guards
Installed/Upgraded

Animal guards enhance reliability by lowering the chance of wildlife-related faults. This significantly reduces outage risks, especially at locations prone to wildlife interference.

1,200+
Miles of Right-of-Way
Cleared

Clearing vegetation from rights-of-way prevents trees, limbs and branches from contacting power lines and causing outages.

ROW
Hazard Trees

~7,500
Hazard Trees Removed

Removing trees that pose a hazard improves reliability by preventing them from contacting poles, lines and other infrastructure.

40,000
Drone Inspections

Through drone inspections, REC teams can spot issues early instead of waiting for something to break. Drone inspections have identified 12,000 improvements in 2025.

Drone
Poles

5,550
Poles Replaced

Regularly replacing poles helps to address increased loading and evolving infrastructure. It also contributes significantly to system-wide reliability and resiliency.

27,400
Ground and
Underground Inspections

These inspections catch issues that drones cannot, including loose hardware or signs of equipment wear.

Underground

REC STORIES

Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) donated $3,000 to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank during the 4th Annual Mad Jazz & Wine Festival held Sept. 6 at...

Meet CARE Charity Board Member: Greg Worley

Wednesday | October 1, 2025
When Greg Worley retired in January 2024, slowing down wasn’t part of his plan. An avid outdoorsman, Worley enjoys hiking, biking, and camping.

Joining Forces to Defend Virginia

Friday | September 19, 2025
Experts from your Cooperative participated in Cyber Fortress 25