SWEPCO crews working 16 hours a day to restore power to customers

SHREVEPORT, La. (June 19, 2023) – SWEPCO crews continue to make progress in the ongoing effort to rebuild SWEPCO’s energy delivery system.

As of noon Monday, June 19, SWEPCO has restored service to approximately 138,000 customers impacted by the severe weather that moved through the region on Friday; an estimated 112,000 remain without power.

As a result of the severe weather event, Public Service Commissioners joined with community leaders and SWEPCO to provide an update on the extent of damage and the progress made. On Monday, Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell joined SWEPCO for a press conference to share updates on storm restoration work. In addition, a Texas delegation comprised of Public Utility of Texas and Texas Division of Emergency Management leaders joined SWEPCO so they could better understand the restoration process, the overall timeline and see the damage sustained during the storm.

Texas leaders, including State Senator Bryan Hughes, State Representative Jay Dean, TDEM Chief Nim Kidd, PUCT Interim Chair Kathleen Jackson, were part of the delegation touring the hardest hit areas and discussing storm restoration efforts. The delegation also held meetings with Upshur Rural Electric Cooperative teams in Gilmer.

“This is the worst transmission impacted storm I’ve ever seen in my career, and it’s the worst one we’ve had at SWEPCO,” said SWEPCO President and COO Brett Mattison.

Campbell echoed those sentiments, saying he had not seen a storm of this magnitude in northwest Louisiana since being in office.

Friday’s storm caused major damage to SWEPCO’s transmission system, which delivers high-voltage power over long distances from power plants to substations, where the power is converted to voltages appropriate for use in homes and businesses. SWEPCO’s utility poles and distribution wires serving individual homes and businesses also experienced extensive damage.

Over 50 transmission lines were forced out of service due to tree and structure damage caused by the extreme weather, half of which have been restored to service. In addition, nearly 60 Transmission and Distribution substations were impacted.

“Without the transmission up, you can’t get power to those homes and businesses, so we’ve been working diligently to get the transmission system back up,” Mattison said.

The workforce of more than 3,000 utility professionals are working 16 hours a day to restore service to customers who remain without power. They are making a lot of traction with the transmission repairs and have about 70 percent of the transmission system back up and running.

“We won’t stop, and we won’t sleep until that last light is on,” Mattison said.

Since Friday, work has continued to complete damage assessments. By leveraging both on ground and aerial assessments, the entire transmission system that spans nearly 700 miles of transmission lines was completed. Teams continue to prioritize stabilizing the system and putting efforts on transmission lines impacting customer stations. Damage to transmission lines can result in significant outages. SWEPCO’s utility poles and distribution wires serving individual homes and businesses also experienced extensive damage. Crews continue to assess and have reported nearly 300 utility poles taken out of service and more than 114 transformers are scheduled to be replaced.

Continue to stay weather aware! Potential remains for additional storms during the next several days and could disrupt service to more customers or impact restoration timelines.

Outage update: At peak, close to a quarter of a million SWEPCO customers lost power after the hurricane-force winds caused significant damage to the power delivery system across SWEPCO’s service area.

Work continues, weather permitting, to rebuild SWEPCO’s energy delivery system with continued focus on repairs to SWEPCO’s transmission system.

SWEPCO is grateful for all the crew members who have left their families with many away from their families on Father’s Day and beyond to help in this historic restoration effort and extend our thoughts and prayers to our sister utility and their Oklahoma residents served by Public Service of Oklahoma (PSO) who are also suffering the effects of last night’s severe weather.

Estimated Restoration Times: We know customers are seeking information and we are doing everything we can to offer assurance that power will be restored safely and reliably. Teams will provide additional detail including updates to restoration areas and times as crews continue working to restore power.

Customers could receive individual mobile alerts as early as Monday for updated or revised estimated times for restoration.

• Natchitoches District in Louisiana – 10 p.m., Tuesday, June 20
• Texarkana District in Texas – 10 p.m., Wednesday, June 21
• Longview District in Texas – 10 p.m., Friday, June 23
• Shreveport District in Louisiana – 10 p.m., Saturday, June 24

As we get more specific information for your area, we will update this information.

Safety Reminders:

• For your safety and for the safety of our crews, please refrain from approaching them while they are working.
• Contact our customer service personnel with any questions about your service. You can report downed lines and other hazards to SWEPCO at 888-218-3919 or online at https://www.swepco.com/outages/report/
• Downed power lines - Never touch a downed line, or go near it, no matter how harmless it looks. The line could be energized. Stay away and keep children and pets at least ten feet away from downed lines. Treat all downed power lines as if they are energized and dangerous. Call SWEPCO or 911 immediately. 
• Portable generator safety – If you use a portable or RV generator, do not plug the generator into your circuit box. Portable generators can "backfeed" electricity up the line and risk the lives of repair workers and the public. Follow the manufacturers' instructions carefully and plug essential appliances directly into the generator.

About Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO)

SWEPCO, an American Electric Power (Nasdaq: AEP) company, serves more than 551,144 customers in Northwest and Central Louisiana, Northeast Texas and the Texas Panhandle, and Western Arkansas. SWEPCO’s headquarters are in Shreveport, La. News releases and other information about SWEPCO can be found at SWEPCO.com. Connect with us at Facebook.com/SWEPCO, Twitter.com/SWEPCOnews, Instagram.com/swepco, Youtube.com/SWEPCOtv and LinkedIn.com/company/swepco.

About American Electric Power (AEP)

American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is powering a cleaner, brighter energy future for its customers and communities. AEP’s approximately 16,700 employees operate and maintain the nation’s largest electricity transmission system and more than 224,000 miles of distribution lines to safely deliver reliable and affordable power to 5.5 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the nation’s largest electricity producers with approximately 31,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including more than 7,100 megawatts of renewable energy. The company’s plans include growing its renewable generation portfolio to approximately 50% of total capacity by 2030. AEP is on track to reach an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from 2005 levels by 2030 and has committed to achieving net zero by 2045. AEP is recognized consistently for its focus on sustainability, community engagement, and diversity, equity and inclusion. AEP’s family of companies includes utilities AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana, east Texas and the Texas Panhandle). AEP also owns AEP Energy, which provides innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide. For more information, visit aep.com.