If you’re constructing a new building or structure in Jacksonville, Florida, there’s a good chance you’ll run into essential utility worker Theodric Arline. As a highly skilled Underground Networking Cable Working Foreman, Theodric is JEA’s boots on the ground. He makes sure that transformers are set, cable is pooled, and electrical devices are in place, keeping construction powered throughout the city. As the pandemic continues to impact Jacksonville, Theodric and his team remain out in the community, working to ensure JEA’s 50,000 commercial and industrial customers, which includes life-saving local institutions like hospitals, continue to receive reliable electric power.

As the Director of Human Resources and Safety, no one has been more involved in Platte River Power Authority’s (PRPA) efforts to help keep employees safe during the pandemic than Libby Clark. As the utility providing electricity to communities across Northern Colorado, many PRPA workers were deemed essential at the beginning of the pandemic and had to remain on-site or out in the field. To keep them safe, Libby implemented new health and safety procedures, redesigned workspaces, and engineered safer work schedules. PRPA’s essential workers are doing everything they can to keep the lights on in Colorado, and Libby is doing everything she can to keep the utility’s workers safe throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jesse Brantley is a vital part of South Carolina’s electric system. As a Unit Operator at Santee Cooper’s Winyah Generating Station, he’s responsible for everything from the coal yard to the electric grid. Jesse is one of a handful of highly trained essential utility workers who makes sure that electricity is generated at Winyah and transmitted to the electric grid, where it is then delivered to homes, businesses, and communities. A husband and father, Jesse made the tough call during the pandemic to work 12-hour seven-day long shifts so that the lights stayed on for the 2 million South Carolinians served by Santee Cooper.