Two large power outages have impacted thousands of people in the Rock Springs area this week.
Power outages Tuesday afternoon and Thursday night each affected more than 11,800 Rocky Mountain Power customers in the Rock Springs area. The outage on Tuesday began at 12:27 p.m., and power was restored at 1:47 p.m. On Thursday, power went out at 8:32 p.m. and was restored at 9:39 p.m. with a temporary fix during that time period which lasted about 15 minutes.
Rocky Mountain Power representative Dave Eskelsen said both outages were caused by technical problems in the Rock Springs substation.
The outage on Tuesday was the result of damaged switches. Crews were able to isolate the damaged equipment and supply power through an alternative configuration.
The outage Thursday occurred after some protective equipment activated. Eskelsen said crews believe they have made the proper adjustments and will be able to operate with the alternative configuration until permanent repairs are made.
Eskelsen said the permanent repairs can usually be made without interrupting service to customers. If crews need to interrupt power for the repairs, Rocky Mountain Power will notify people of a scheduled outage through letters and phone calls.
“We recognize the inconvenience, particularly for an outage of this size. We are very focused on making sure the system for Rock Springs is as reliable as we can make it, and we appreciate the patience of our customers during these times of disturbances,†said Eskelsen.
During times of outage, Rocky Mountain Power’s outage map shows areas impacted, number of customers without power, and estimated time of restoration. The outage map can be found at https://www.rockymountainpower.net/ed/po/wom.html
