OG&E officials released an update around 3pm on Monday, saying it would no longer implement a fatal power outage, after Southwest Power Pool announced it was an emergency in the region.
At a press conference at 2 p.m., Southwest Power Pool officials said enough power had been generated to move Oklahoma back to an Energy Emergency Warning Level 2.
At noon, more than 20,000 OG&E customers lost power in all parts of the service area, including more than 6,000 customers in Oklahoma City.
OG&E said this eclipse should take about an hour.
“SPP has instructed us to implement temporary service interruptions,” said OG&E spokesman Brian Alford. “These will be short-lived, controlled interruptions and will continue until the middle of the week.”
OG&E said that while the ongoing eclipses have been suspended, there is a possibility that conditions could change. David Kimmel, with OG&E, told News 9 that they are trying to warn households in advance about when they may lose power, but unfortunately there is no way to notify everyone.
Kimmel said those who do experience power outages should not wait 24 hours longer.
SPP declared an emergency alert level 3 shortly after 10 a.m. Monday and utilities in the Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas regions will begin controlled interruptions.
Less than three hours later, the outbreaks began in the Oklahoma area.
OG&E said the emergency in energy was due to several factors due to widespread, prolonged and extremely cold weather. The factors include high electricity consumption throughout the SPP system and limited availability of wind power and natural gas.
OG&E said customers can help by taking simple conservation steps such as:
- Set thermostats lower than usual, if health permits
- Postpone the use of large electrical appliances such as stoves, dishwashers and dryers until the afternoon or after 21:00 when the demand for electricity decreases
- Turn off electric lights and appliances that you do not need or do not use
- Businesses should limit the use of electric lighting and electricity consumption equipment as much as possible
- Large consumers of electricity should consider shutting down or reducing non-essential production processes
“We join SPP, and all the utilities in Oklahoma and the region, to ask customers to help by reducing their electricity consumption as safely as possible,” Alford said.
Other utility companies across the state have announced that they will begin implementing ongoing blackouts. They are expected to last about an hour and will continue for the next few days.
Oklahoma Electric Cooperative has announced that it has delivered its first eclipse to about 600 members in the Newcastle area.
The City of Edmond said it would try to notify residents before embarking on an eclipse.