We are currently implementing rotating outages as mandated by the Southwest Power Pool. Members in certain areas should expect outages lasting 30 minutes or less. Again, towns will only be affected as a last resort. More information from SPP is below. Thank you for your patience.

SPP declared an Energy Emergency Alert (EEA) Level 3 effective at 6:15 on Feb. 16 for our entire 14-state balancing authority area. System-wide generating capacity has dropped below our current load of approximately 42 gigawatts (GW) due to extremely low temperatures and inadequate supplies of natural gas.

We’ll be working with our member utilities to implement controlled interruptions of electric service throughout our region to curtail 1500 megawatts (MW) of load beginning at 6:46 a.m. This is done as a last resort to preserve the reliability of the electric system as a whole. Individuals in the SPP service territory should take steps to conserve energy use and follow their local utilities’ instructions regarding conservation, local conditions and the potential for outages to their homes and businesses.

We are currently forecasting a morning peak of above 44.6 GW around 9:00 a.m. Central time.