County: Townsite Outage Scheduled For Wednesday

COUNTY News:

After the townsite-wide power outage Sunday, Los Alamos townsite residents and businesses have been patiently waiting to find out when a system repair will take place. That repair has been scheduled for Wednesday morning.

The townsite is on two electric supply lines fed by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). When one of those lines went down Sunday, all electric customers were moved to the other supply line, doubling its usual electric load. LANL utility crews and Los Alamos Department of Public Utilities (DPU) electric distribution staff have been working together to plan repairs on the line.

Customers on North Mesa and Barranca Mesa will be affected by the repair, also North Community, Chapel Apartments, the Denver Steels and Aspen Elementary School area.

Los Alamos High School should not lose power.

LANL’s crew will begin work 8 a.m. Wednesday and won’t know the full impact until after they begin. They anticipate having to de-energize the damaged electric supply line around 11 a.m., which will cut electricity to the affected areas. Depending on the severity of the damage they find, the outage could last 1 to 8 hours.

To reduce the number of utility customers affected by the repair, LANL and DPU coordinated to move DPU’s Western Area, Eastern Area and downtown customers to other LANL feeders that aren’t typically used to back up the townsite.

Customers in the impacted areas who have medical equipment that relies on electricity should have alternate equipment and/or plans ready.

To prevent outages due to overloading of the system, DPU has been requesting that townsite customers reduce their electric consumption as much as they are reasonably able while the townsite is being fed by a single supply line. If all goes well Wednesday, this guidance will end when power to the mesas is restored.

In the meantime, residents can continue helping to reduce energy consumption by postponing doing laundry and running the dishwasher, lowering thermostats a couple degrees (especially when away from home) and turning off lights and electronics that aren’t being actively used.

Check back for updates at ladailypost.com.

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