SHREVEPORT, La., Jan. 12, 2021 – Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO) crews continue to maneuver through slush and mud in Central Louisiana to access some of the hardest hit areas of Sunday’s winter storm while making significant progress in East Texas.
Heavy wet, snow brought down trees and power lines in rural Central Louisiana, slowing power restoration to SWEPCO customers. Estimated restoration times for Central Louisiana have been moved to 10 p.m. Wednesday.
In East Texas, crews have made significant progress restoring power. Estimated restoration times for customers in Longview, Marshall and Carthage have been moved from Wednesday night to this evening.
“The quickest way to get restoration estimates for your home or business is to enroll in outage alerts through SWEPCO’s website,” said Drew Seidel, SWEPCO vice president of Region Distribution Operations.
As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, about 9,000 customers remained without power as crews continued to work as safely and quickly as possible to restore service. More than 400 tree and line personnel from SWEPCO, its sister company Public Service of Oklahoma, and outside contract crews continue to work to restore service. As work wraps in Northwest Louisiana, crews will move south to join those already deployed in Central Louisiana.
At the peak early Monday morning, about 60,400 customers were without power in Louisiana and East Texas.
SWEPCO estimates most Louisiana customers will be restored by 10 p.m. Wednesday and the majority of East Texas customers by 10 p.m. Tuesday. The following are updated estimated times of restoration by community. Estimates are for 95% of customers who can take power. Many customers’ power will be restored sooner.
Central Louisiana
Hornbeck: 10 p.m. Tuesday
Mansfield and Natchitoches: 10 p.m. Wednesday
East Texas
Longview: 8 p.m. Tuesday
Marshall: 10 p.m. Tuesday
Carthage: 10 p.m. Tuesday
Henderson: noon Wednesday
Kilgore: 10 p.m. Wednesday
Always assume that any downed utility line is energized and stay away. Report downed lines immediately to SWEPCO at 1-888-218-3919.
If you use a portable or RV generator, do not plug the generator into your circuit box. Portable generators “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.
When Customer Repairs Are Needed
Heavy, wet snow on service lines to customers’ home may have caused damage to customer-owned facilities.
SWEPCO cannot connect power to a home or business if there is damage to the service entrance, which is owned by the customer.
Customers need to have a qualified electrician repair this damage before power can be restored. The service entrance includes the metal box housing SWEPCO’s meter, the “weatherhead” pipe on top of the meter box, the service entrance cables running from the weatherhead through the meter box to the inside panel box, and other related facilities. Similar responsibilities apply to underground service.
After repairs are made, contact SWEPCO to have power restored.
How to report, track outages
Use the SWEPCO app, available for download via the App Store or Google Play.
Sign up for text and email updates, including estimated time of restoration, at SWEPCO.com/Alerts.
Visit SWEPCO.com/OutageMap to find detailed information without logging into your account.
Call 1-888-218-3919 to report your outage.
For updates and photos, see SWEPCO.com and follow SWEPCO on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Working safely
Workers are practicing social distancing and other measures to stay healthy and prevent the spread of coronavirus, making the recovery effort especially challenging.
Maintain at least six feet of physical distance between yourself and SWEPCO field personnel as we all play a crucial role in preventing the spread of coronavirus.
Also, be careful when driving or walking in all utility crew work zones.
About Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO)
SWEPCO, an American Electric Power (Nasdaq: AEP) company, serves more than 543,000 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, LinkedIn.com/company/swepco and SWEPCOConnections.com.
About American Electric Power (AEP)
American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is focused on building a smarter energy infrastructure and delivering new technologies and custom energy solutions to our customers. AEP’s approximately 17,000 employees operate and maintain the nation’s largest electricity transmission system and more than 221,000 miles of distribution lines to efficiently deliver safe, reliable power to nearly 5.5 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the nation’s largest electricity producers with approximately 30,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including more than 5,300 megawatts of renewable energy. 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, AEP Energy Partners, AEP OnSite Partners, and AEP Renewables, which provide innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide. For more information, visit aep.com.
