High West Energy customers to be impacted by rolling blackouts

High West Energy says approximately 400 people north and east of Potter will be impacted by six hour rolling blackouts over the next two days as they repair a 115,000 volt transformer that broke down at a substation near Potter. Chad Schaefer, High West's energy use advisor, says approximately 1,200 of their customers were without power at one time.

Schaeffer says High West is trying to back feed from other substations, including those owned by other public power districts, in an effort to reduce the impact of the problem. Schaeffer says the part needed for the transformer will arrive later today, but it will take another 48 hours to make the necessary repairs. High West and Wheat Belt Public Power, which is assisting in shifting some of their load to other substations, are asking all customers to conserve energy over the next couple days.

Wheat Belt is asking customers in the Sidney, Sioux Army Depot, Gurley and Dalton areas to refrain from watering lawns, running air conditioners, and running electronic devices as much as possible. An overload in the system may result in a lengthy outage for these areas.

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