STATESVILLE — EnergyUnited officials responded to an alarm that notified personnel of an equipment issue at its Pleasant Hill Substation in the  Thomasville area early Tuesday morning. Crews were dispatched to assess the situation and discovered damage to the substation transformer from an apparent gunshot. The damage was quickly assessed and contained to mitigate the impact.Law enforcement officials were notified and members who are served by the substation did not experience an outage as a result of the cooperative’s swift response. 

 “EnergyUnited continually strives to deliver safe, reliable energy to its members,” said Steve McCachern, vice president of energy delivery for EnergyUnited, in a news release. “While we are glad that our members did not experience any service interruptions, we take this matter very seriously and are currently investigating the incident.”

The damage comes after a gunfire attack on multiple substations in Moore County in December that knocked out power to more than 45,000 customers. There have been no arrests in those shootings.

EnergyUnited is collaborating with electric cooperatives, industry partners, peer organizations, as well as federal, state and local officials to share information that improves member service and strengthens critical systems. Additionally, EnergyUnited encourages community members to share information with the cooperative and local officials whenever suspicious activity is observed near any of its substations or facilities.