LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Thousands of Nebraskans woke up this morning without the power of LES and NPPD to carry out turn-offs. This comes when the central US is experiencing severe cold and many states are struggling to meet the demands.
The disruptions occurred across the city and Nebraska between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.
Rick Batten, a Denton resident, was among those hit. He did not touch one, but only two minutes interruption by two interruptions.
“Our house went down to 60 degrees,” Batten said. “My wife and I sat by the fire and I got coffee ready. We drank coffee and each read the news and so we spent the morning. ‘
He is not alone. 44,000 LES customers and an unknown number of NPPD customers were without power for between 30-60 minutes. The companies said the decision was beyond their control.
“We do not yet know why this happened, but what we did know was that we were required by the regulatory requirements to do so and if we did not, we would be punished,” said Kevin Wailes, chief executive of LES, said.
The call was made by the Southwest Power Pool, which is responsible for maintaining reliability in the electrical network in most of the central US, including Nebraska.
“We all produced more power than we used,” Wailes said. “But the rest of the footprint had problems related to fuel and cold weather.”
NPPD chief executive and president Tom Kent said if no action was taken, there could be a widespread uncontrolled interruption.
Both NPPD and LES said they were working to ensure customers had as many alerts as possible, but since it was an emergency, they could do just as much.
“It was an unusual cold,” Kent said. “I know everyone really wanted to know when it would happen at their house. I know my wife wanted to know when it would happen to us, but there is no way to know.”
Both Kent and Wailes said the companies worked to maintain power at locations such as hospitals, prisons and 911 call centers. They also said they are optimistic that there will be no further interruptions, but there are no guarantees.
What could affect LES bills, Wailes said as customers use more power to heat their homes, their bills will rise, but he said LES could not raise rates without a vote by the LES board and the Lincoln City Council does not.
Customers like Batten said it’s uncomfortable to have a power outage, but a small outage like the one he experienced is better than what happens in Texas, where he has loved ones.
“They’ve been without power for 36 hours and it’s 40 degrees in their house,” Batten said. “So I think all we can do to reduce and share power is for everyone to do.”
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