Why Your Lights Went Out: SWEPCO Explains Shreveport-Bossier Shutdown

On Wednesday afternoon, more than 24,000 customers in Shreveport-Bossier lost power ahead of potentially severe storms. At the time, we just saw the number of outages growing without a clear cut reason why. I incorrectly assumed that because of wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour, that a tree knocked out power to part of our community.

It turns out that SWEPCO purposely cut the power to those homes on purpose. So, with that information, a lot of people are asking the same question: Why?

Why Did SWEPCO Cut the Power?

On Wednesday, SWEPCO cut off service for a few hours to over 24,000 customers in the Shreveport-Bossier area. According to several messages from upset customers, they received the following email from SWEPCO after the power had already been cut:

As a result of impacts to the energy delivery system, we were required to implement emergency grid protection outages in your area to prevent potentially catastrophic damage to the electric grid. Please know our team is working to address this issue as quickly as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause our customers and appreciate your patience.

The storm ended up not impacting our area the way it was originally projected to. So, why did SWEPCO make the decision to cut the power before the storm hit the area? According to them: safety.

William Bradford, SWEPCO VP of External Affairs, spoke about the incident with KSLA to give further insight into why they did what they did in the name of safety. Bradford said that while we weren't directly impacted in Shreveport-Bossier, storms were impacting the regional electrical grid. So, to keep things safe and to prevent mass outages, they needed to power down part of the grid.

"Because if we stayed on, we risked actually setting it on fire. We actually risked impacting a much larger expanse of the country. Those are mechanisms that are put in place to protect the national grid.".

How Often do "Emergency Outages" Happen?

According to SWEPCO, emergency outages are a rare thing and not something customers generally have to deal with. This, for the most part, is in the news and a topic of discussion in the community BECAUSE it's so rare and kind of caught everyone off guard.

However, just because this is a rarity in our area, that doesn't mean it's not something that power companies across the country don't regularly implement in the name of safety. Windstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc., are all reasons for a power company to shut down power early before a major catastrophe occurs.

Why Do Utilities Companies Cut Off Power During Emergencies?

Now, you may be thinking, "how does cutting the power help anyone?" Here's the reason why it's pretty standard operating procedure.

Specifically in dry areas, it can help prevent wildfires in the event a downed line gets into dry grass. It can protect power lines, transformers and other essential equipment from essentially blowing up and causing mass, long term outages. As, William Bradford mentioned in his quote to KSLA, SWEPCO was concerned about setting the grid on fire. It may seem a bit dramatic, but it's a real concern.

So, the move is a preventative one. But also a necessary one. I don't know about you, but I'd rather lose power for a couple hours than a couple of weeks. And while it can be an unpopular decision with the residents impacted, it's probably the right decision.