February 15, 2021 – Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO) has begun temporarily interrupting power to parts of its service territory in an emergency procedure prompted by extreme winter temperatures.
The controlled outages are being implemented by utilities across multiple states as part of emergency procedures to reduce load on the electric system and prevent wider area outages. The action was taken at the direction of the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), the regional organization that manages the electric grid across 17 central and western U.S. states.
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.
All efforts are under way to return service to normal as quickly as possible.
Customers should be prepared for electric service outages as the emergency continues in the next few days.
For customers who have service, please continue to conserve energy. Use energy needed for personal safety and to protect against property damage. Minor adjustments to thermostats, plus reduced use of lighting and appliances, can make a significant difference to the overall electric system.
At the request of SPP, SWEPCO on Sunday issued a public appeal to conserve energy Monday and Tuesday. However, conditions across the SPP system worsened and controlled outages were implemented amid persistent, widespread and extreme cold.
SWEPCO will provide updates through the news media, on SWEPCO.com, and on the company’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
SPP is a regional transmission organization: a not-for-profit corporation mandated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure reliable supplies of power, adequate transmission infrastructure and competitive wholesale electricity prices on behalf of its members. SPP manages the electric grid across 17 central and western U.S. states and provides energy services on a contract basis to customers in both the Eastern and Western Interconnections. The company’s headquarters are in Little Rock, Arkansas. Learn more at SPP.org.
[NOTE: SWEPCO customers in East Texas and the Panhandle also may hear advisories from neighboring grid operator Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which serves much of the rest of the state and is a separate reliability grid from SPP. SWEPCO is not part of ERCOT.]
