SWEPCO begins rolling blackouts

TEXARKANA - Southwestern Electric Power Co. on Monday began interrupting service to rotating portions of its territory, an emergency response to extreme high demand for electricity because of cold temperatures.

SWEPCO warned customers late Monday morning that they should be prepared to be without power for "a few hours," though outages could last longer. SWEPCO's online outage map Monday afternoon showed "multiple outages" in the vicinity of Shreveport, Louisiana, as well as Linden, Marshall, Longview and Winnsboro in Northeast Texas.

Customers should be prepared to be without power for "a few hours," though outages could last longer.

"SWEPCO is rotating the areas affected by the controlled outages so customers are not without service for more than a few hours whenever possible. The amount of time required to restore service could be delayed in some cases due to system and weather conditions. The temporary outages should not affect critical public health and public safety facilities," the statement said.

The emergency procedure is meant to reduce load on the electric system and prevent wider area outages. The action was taken at the direction of the Southwest Power Pool, the regional organization that manages the electric grid across 17 central and western U.S. states.

The company urged customers to limit electricity use, especially by using appliances such as clothes dryers, dishwashers and water heaters.

"Minor adjustments to thermostats, plus reduced use of lighting and appliances, can make a significant difference to the overall electric system," according to the statement.

Other electric and natural gas companies serving the region said Monday they were also seeing record high demand because of cold weather and made similar requests of their customers.

Record high demand for electricity was approaching system capacity before noon Monday, creating "an emergency situation" that called for everyone to limit power use immediately, a group of Arkansas rural electric co-operatives said in a news release.

"This is an unprecedented time, and we urge electric cooperative members to immediately reduce the use of electrical requirements by turning off or not using non-essential lights and electric appliances, especially electric water heaters, clothes dryers, and dishwashers and to turn heating thermostats to lower settings," said Andrew Lachowsky, vice president of planning and market operations for the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas.

Service interruptions among member co-ops, including Southwest Arkansas Electric Cooperative locally, have been "limited" so far, but power providers are closely monitoring the outage situation as a second winter storm is expected this week, a spokesperson said. The most significant danger is trees weighted with snow falling on power lines.

Entergy Arkansas said about 7,000 of its customers temporarily lost power because of Sunday's winter storm. Safety procedures are a factor in how long it takes to restore service.

"Rather than simply energizing an entire power line all at once, we must bring customers back online one section at a time to avoid damage to our system and possibly cause additional outages," said Michael Considine, Entergy's vice president of customer service.

Customers who lose electricity can help with restore times by turning off major appliances and heating units. Once power is restored, customers should gradually power on appliances and heating systems to prevent a high level of instantaneous demand.

CenterPoint Energy asked customers to lower their thermostats to 60-65 degrees through Thursday to conserve the supply of natural gas, which also has been strained because of home heating demand.

"This step can help ensure that all customers continue to have gas service to stay safe and warm during the intensely cold weather," a CenterPoint notice said.

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