MARDON — On both Wednesday and Thursday, Grant Public Utility District had large-scale power outages. A major outage affects more than 50 customers, according to the PUD.  

Wednesday’s outage was a planned outage for repairs; however, after the necessary repairs were made, PUD employees realized there were ongoing issues. Thursday’s outage is still under investigation as of press time Thursday, according to Grant PUD Public Affairs Supervisor Chuck Allen. 

Wednesday

Grant PUD conducted an emergency planned outage for the Mardon area near Potholes State Park. The outage, originally supposed to be 10 minutes, lasted several hours.  

“It was kind of an extensive situation last night,” Allen said.  

Following the initial statement of the planned outage, Grant PUD released an update at around 5:30 p.m. saying power had been restored to the area.  

“We had a repair we were making, and we needed to have a short outage to safely complete the repair,” Allen said. “Then when we went to energize power after the repair was made, there was another outage, and we discovered some damaged equipment and downed power lines.” 

The PUD released another statement saying there was more damage. The PUD said power would return by 7 p.m. 

However, repairs once again lasted longer than anticipated with another statement at around 7:30 p.m. stating power would return at 9 p.m.  

“We were able to repair the damage we discovered at 10 p.m.,” Allen said. “Then we had an issue where folks didn't have power for a long time. Then we had the phenomenon called a cold load pickup. As soon as the power was restored there was a surge. It tripped the circuit breakers. That resulted in a phenomenon of the lights coming on then going off. “ 

The PUD worked on reenergizing smaller areas to avoid the cold load pickup again. According to Allen the power was fully restored by 1:30 a.m. Thursday.  

Thursday

The following morning at around 11:30 a.m., a wire was down affecting about 350 customers in the area near the I-90 and Highway 17 interchange, north to Nelson Road, and east to Road N NE.  

By around 12:30 p.m. power had been restored to most customers, except 44 people in the Kittleson Road area.  

As of press time, there were no updates on the estimated restoration time. Allen said it is still unknown what caused the outage.  

Power outage tips

If a power outage occurs, Allen recommends calling the PUD at 800-216-5226 to ensure the outage has been reported.  

Then, Allen said to turn off and unplug all sensitive equipment, turn down the thermostat and turn off the water circuit breaker, keep the fridge and freezer closed and wait patiently as crews work to restore power. 

These tips will protect customers’ equipment and also prevent a load surge on the utility district’s system when the power returns, Allen said.  

“Also, for safety it is not a good idea to use candles in the home,” Allen said. “It is a good idea to have an outage kit with flashlights and plenty of batteries on hand. We really try to do a good job on communicating on how long an outage may last but if there is a storm that knocks out power for 72 hours or so. It is a good idea to have food, medicine and anything else you may need during a prolonged power outage in an accessible area.”  

On the Grant PUD website there is information on what to include in an emergency kit: water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation; at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food; battery-powered or hand crank radio, a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert, and extra batteries for both; flashlight and extra batteries; first aid kit; whistle to signal for help; dust mask to help filter contaminated air; plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter in place; moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation; wrench or pliers to turn off utilities, such as water or natural gas; manual can opener for food; local maps; cell phone with chargers, inverter or solar charger; and prescription medications.  

Finally, Allen recommends people should not bring outdoor appliances that require ventilation into their homes during outages. Examples he gave included gas grills, gas generators and gas heaters.  

Allen said he strongly recommends customers visit GrantPUD.org/outages to sign up for text message alerts about outages in their area. The PUD will send out a text message to customers regarding any major outage.