Submitted
At Western Cooperative Electric, we know our members expect the lights to come on every time they turn on the switch. However, severe wind in our area has caused the power to go out across a large section of our service area, resulting in an extended outage. Our goal is to safely restore electrical service to every home and business as quickly as possible. However, we know that some members may experience an extended delay in service.
We ask for your patience as we do our best to respond to the effects of this storm. The weather conditions caused significant outages. As of Wednesday night, power outages affected about 7,600 meters. The power outage area included most of Western Co-op's service territory.
When an outage occurs, power is first restored to substations and major lines and to critical infrastructure in our areas, such as hospitals, police departments, and other emergency responders.
Crews were out working as of Wednesday night on the situation. There were more than 100 downed power poles. Regarding our substations, many of the lines that feed our substations were also affected.
Our service area has over 4,000 miles of lines. Please be aware that sometimes during complicated repairs, you may have your lights come back on, only to have them go off again because we discover another problem that must be fixed.
We understand that it is very frustrating when a neighbor has lights, and you don't, or that people across the street have lights and you don't. Often this may be because your home is on another circuit, or perhaps that your meter is damaged in a way that your neighbor's meter is not damaged.
For your safety, please stay away from any downed power lines.
For the safety of everyone, if you are using a portable electrical generator, do not tie it into your circuit panel. An improperly wired generator can energize downed lines causing severe injury or death to you, a family member, a neighbor, or one of our repair crews. A generator can only be tied into a circuit panel if a licensed electrician has installed a transfer switch.
We have requested assistance from other power companies who participate in our mutual aid program. Ultimately we are not satisfied until every meter is reconnected and the lights are on for everyone.
We would like to thank all of our employees who are working long hours as part of the restoration and response effort.
Although we post service updates to social media, we do not monitor social media for reports of outages. All emergencies must be reported by phone. To report an outage or a downed power line, you can call 1-800-456-6720. To view a real-time outage map or receive updates visit our website at www.westerncoop.com.
Western Cooperative Electric Association is a member-owned cooperative headquartered in WaKeeney.
Established in 1945, Western now serves more than 12,000 meters and maintains over 4,000 miles of power lines across western and central Kansas.