Three separate outages this week left thousands of central Kenai Peninsula residents without power while linemen worked day and night to bring customers back online.
The largest outage hit Thursday night and left 14,986 Homer Electric Association members in the dark. As of Friday around 4:15 p.m., Homer Electric Association crews had restored power to nearly all of those members. But roughly 40 members across 15 separate outages still didn’t have power.
The cooperative said crews worked throughout the night to resolve outages. After isolating a large outage around midnight, HEA restored power to about half of the impacted members. Weather conditions had calmed by early Halloween morning, though more than 1,000 were still without power as of 9 a.m.
Friday’s outage came on the heels of two others this week. Nine thousand HEA members lost power for about an hour Monday after an Anchorage power plant tripped offline and caused a load shed. That’s when some customers are automatically kicked off the grid to prevent a larger outage when a major power source goes offline, according to Chugach Electric Association.
Chugach and the City of Seward reported their own outages this week due to storms. Seward’s electric department reported a “significant wind storm” causing outages north of the town.
A separate wind-related outage Wednesday left more than 2,000 Homer Electric in the dark.
Many of HEA’s outages are caused by falling trees or tree limbs during a windstorm. Trees killed by spruce bark beetles are especially prone to falling over. If you suspect there’s a so-called “hazard tree” on your property threatening power lines, HEA will help you clear the right of way. As a reminder, HEA warns against approaching downed power lines or trees.
Up-to-date outage information is available on the cooperative’s outage map. Outages can also be reported by calling 1-888-868-8243.
In Seward, outages can be reported to the electric department during regular business hours by calling 907-224-4073. To report an outage during nonbusiness hours, call police dispatch at 907-224-3338. The department is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
