Hundreds of customers still powerless

UPDATE: 4 p.m.

Repair crews from Utah and Idaho have made significant progress, but 1,485 Rocky Mountain Power electricity customers were still without power at around 4 p.m. Monday.

The crews are working to repair damage caused by a winter storm that began Sunday night.

A final restoration time is still uncertain. Relief crews from other Idaho and northern Utah service centers have been dispatched to assist crews already working in the area between Idaho Falls and Rexburg. Repair work will continue around the clock until all customers are restored.

Repair work has been active, but some had to be delayed until weather conditions allowed crews to work safely.

Information on repair progress is available here.

Information on preparing for emergency situations can be found here.

UPDATE: 12:00 PM

As of noon, Rocky Mountain Power was reporting 57 outages in eastern Idaho. Together, they affected 4,839 customers. Most of the outages were in the Idaho Falls and Rigby areas, although customers were still affected in Shelley, Ririe, Rexburg, St. Anthony and Ashton areas served by the utility.

UPDATE 8:35 a.m.

Approximately 11,500 Idaho Falls Power customers were without power at times over night. The first outages were reported around 3:40 a.m.

Most were restored around 5:30 a.m.

Idaho Falls Power said the cause of its outages were traced to the Cinder Butte substation.

UPDATE: 8:30 a.m. 12-31-18

Rocky Mountain Power estimates as many as 11,131 of its upper valley electricity customers are without power Monday morning.

Spokesman Dave Eskelsen said the cause is weather related. The combination of snow and ice accumulating on power lines, combined with strong winds is creating a situation called “galloping”, where lines are slapping together.

Essentially, transmission lines are vibrating and blowing against each other in an area from Shelley north to St. Anthony. Circuit breakers at sub-stations are set to avoid overloads by shutting off when they read either high or low loads on transmission lines. Breakers will open to protect customer and utility equipment.

Many areas were affected Sunday. New outages were reported overnight and Monday morning. The number of people affected varies from 5,000 at a time to over 11,100 customers.

While work was active to repair lines, some repairs may be delayed until weather conditions ease to allow crews to work safely.

If you have sensitive electronic equipment, like computers, and you have been experiencing power bumps, Eskelsen advises you unplug the device until the situation is over.

ORIGINAL STORY

Rocky Mountain Power crews are responding to outages affecting thousands of customers in Idaho Falls, Lewisville, Menan, Rigby, Roberts, Shelley, Rexburg, Sugar City andShelley.

Rocky Mountain Power says there are 54 outages in Idaho affecting 11131 customers.

They say crews are working to restore service as soon as possible.

Weather is being blamed for the problem. However, a more specific cause was not available.

One issue is the high winds in some areas causing it to be unsafe to work on those lines.

There is no current estimation for the power to be restored.