A 1,700-foot power was dropped some 40 feet into the waters of Lake Murray and then removed thanks to a customer service switch agreement between Dominion Energy and Mid-Carolina Electric Cooperatives.

Utility workers followed safety protocols for the project, undertaken in October, before cutting two spans of a deenergized line which previously served customers along the lake’s western reaches, according to a Dominion Energy news release. After each span hit the water, other crews on the opposite shorelines pulled it to shore with a winch and take-up reel.

The project came about as both utilities reached an agreement earlier this year to reassign roughly 55 customers as both companies work to improve reliability and operational efficiency for those who live along Lake Murray

“It helps address employee safety, public safety and customer service,” said Keller Kissam, Dominion Energy’s president of operations for South Carolina. “All three of those come together with this project in an absolutely wonderful way.”

The project only took a few hours to complete, Matt Long, a spokesman for Dominion Energy, told the Chronicle. He said power service to those affected was already reassigned, so no one was without power during the project.

Long said the line was located in the Murray Landing area on the Lexington side of the lake.

This joint project marked the first of what both utilities hope will be several line removals along Lake Murray. Kissam and Paulling said they will research additional opportunities for collaboration to continue to serve customers more efficiently, safely and reliably.

Long said there are many power lines in the Lake Murray waters. The next removal project has not yet been scheduled.

Mid-Carolina is positioned well to serve a small pocket of customers across the lake, Kissam said in the Dominion news release.

“The line we’ve taken down was just serving a small group of customers, so it makes sense that those customers become members of Mid-Carolina. As a result, we can eliminate these very large poles and the wire that’s going across the lake. It’s more efficient and safer for everyone involved.”

Stretching from shore to shore, the line constructed in the mid-1970s was originally designed to serve a handful of meters across the lake. The customer reassignment removes the operational challenge for linemen when a fallen tree or equipment failure causes a problem on these remote lines.

Officials of both utilities were pleased to have worked together on the project.

“I wanted to see our utilities working together to solve a problem,” Mid-Carolina Electric Cooperatives President Bob Paulling said. “We all live in the communities we serve. And that’s what’s important about this is just making life better for our members and Dominion’s customers.”

Earlier this year, the South Carolina Public Service Commission approved an agreement between DESC and MCEC which reassigned some customers and power lines between both companies. The agreement improved service for those customers by reducing the miles of infrastructure needed to reach them and providing more options for redundancy, which should result in even more efficient and reliable service for all involved customers.