AUSTIN, Texas — In a statement on Saturday morning, Austin Energy said restoring some remaining power outages “may be a multi-day effort.”
The utility provider said crews restored power to nearly 51,000 more customers from 5 p.m. Friday to 9 a.m. Saturday. It said a total of 256,307 customers had their power restored since the beginning of the winter storm earlier this week.
“In large part, this progress was possible because as temperatures climbed, fewer trees and limbs fell on power lines,” Austin Energy said.
But as crews work on restoring the remaining power outages – more than 74,000 customers, or 14% of the service area as of 12:45 p.m. Saturday – the work will “become even more complex,” the utility claimed.
“Restoring power to a single circuit may be a multi-day effort. This is because equipment may be in hard-to-reach areas like a greenbelt, or it may be buried under extremely heavy debris,” Austin Energy said on Saturday. “One example of this is a 500-foot steel communications tower that crashed down on a three-phase distribution line, four spans of wires and five power poles. Repairing this site alone will take several days.”
Around 400 total crewmembers were working to get customers back online. That number includes lineworkers, tree trimmers and other personnel from Austin Energy and neighboring utilities. That number was unchanged since Friday morning, but in an update on Saturday afternoon, Austin Energy said additional mutual aid arrived around 12 p.m.
“Thank you for your patience as our crews work to safely restore power as quickly as possible,” Austin Energy said in a Saturday update.
Crews may be knocking on residents’ doors in order to access Austin Energy equipment, such as energy equipment in a backyard or a utility easement located on a resident’s property. Austin Energy personnel will be clearly identifiable with badges and in Austin Energy vehicles. Residents are asked to work with them on allowing access as needed.
“As crews work to restore power, circuits can become overloaded because of appliances, electronics, thermostats, pool pumps, pool heaters and vehicle chargers left on before the outage. This is called cold load pickup and it may cause a second outage,” Austin Energy explained.
Customers currently without power can help avoid cold load pickup by:
- Turning off their thermostats.
- Turning off or unplugging any fixtures or appliances.
- Only leaving on one light to indicate when the power is back on.
As of Saturday morning, Austin Energy said it cannot provide an estimated restoration time for those without power.
To report a downed line, you are asked to call 512-322-9100, or call 911 if it is sparking.