Power in Jackson Hole expected to be restored Saturday night
After a dayslong power outage, Lower Valley Energy says it expects to have power restored to 4,000 customers later this evening.
Crews from six energy companies, including Idaho Falls Power, have been working to restore power after 90 mph winds knocked down 17 power poles earlier this week. Crews started restoring the power around 1 p.m Saturday.
“The process could take the entire afternoon or longer. We will begin warming up the substation transformer which could take an hour,” a Lower Valley Energy spokesperson wrote on Facebook.
The company said as power is restored, smaller outages may be experienced.
“We will then begin to bring online the core commercial feeders first, then the rest of the affected area. We will then begin switching and rerouting power to neighborhoods around the airport – there may be momentary outages due to this switching,” the Facebook post reads. “When bringing up so much power, there may be smaller outages and fuses failing – we will be alert and vigilant to these possibilities.”
The Teton County Emergency Management office says hotels will be able to reopen later Saturday or Sunday. Teton Village and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort will stay closed until Monday.
As power is restored, Lower Valley Energy is asking customers to limit energy use: “we ask that you restrict your energy use to essential needs for the entire day, which includes reducing your heating and electronic usage. The area of curtailment would be the areas affected this week by the transmission poles failure.”
Teton County officials says the Teton Pass is still closed because of poor winter conditions, but they hope to have it reopened Sunday.