Scattered power outages in Dallas-Fort Worth caused by stress on electric equipment: Oncor
Oncor’s outage map showed over 15,000 customers without power about 10:30 a.m. Monday as crews worked to restore electricity to areas experiencing outages, with about 350 of those in Tarrant County and over 800 in Dallas County.
Juan Reyes, a spokesperson for Oncor, said the scattered outages the company has seen result primarily from the stresses of unprecedented use and cold temperatures.
“It’s not uncommon for the first significant freeze of the year to see some impacts on some of our electrical equipment,” Reyes said. “We’ve had some unprecedented growth in some areas, so this could be because some of the equipment is seeing unprecedented growth in the load. That plus the cold weather means it could be under a lot of extra stress.”
He also stressed that unlike with large storms that move through the area, Oncor crews aren’t waiting for the storm to pass so they can get to work on fixing downed lines or damaged or destroyed equipment. The work is constant.
Crews were on standby and ready for quick response before the cold weather took hold of the region and have been working non-stop since it arrived, he said. Those crews train year-round for cold weather responses.
“We’re working hard to restore power as quickly and safely as we can,” Reyes said.
In the Fort Worth area, to report an outage or check the status of an outage with Oncor, text OUT to 66267 on your cell phone or tablet, download the MyOncor App, visit Oncor.com or call 888-313-4747.
View outage maps and contact info for other providers in the state at puc.texas.gov/storm/contact.aspx
This story was originally published January 15, 2024 at 10:37 AM.