SAN ANTONIO – CPS Energy crews continued working Friday evening to restore power to customers still without power following some powerful storms late Thursday into early Friday.
As of Friday afternoon, the utility reported 208 outages impacting 832 customers. CPS Energy estimates that power will be fully restored on Saturday. Customers still without power will be contacted directly with updates and should consider alternate arrangements if their power is not back on Friday evening.
The focus to restore power started with crews working outages that impacted the largest number of customers and then moved towards restoring smaller outages. There are currently 22 downed wires that crews are working to repair, bringing the total of downed wires during the storm to 112.
“There’s a variety of things causing outages,” CPS Energy spokeswoman Dana Sotoodeh said Friday afternoon. “Again, we saw high winds. We saw hail, a severe storm. So there’s anything from wires down to poles down, limbs that are on power lines, you name it.”
CPS Energy’s Customer Response Unit has been in the areas with the longest outages to check on customers. CPS Energy asks that customers ensure gates are not locked so that crews have access to make the repairs needed.
At one point, more than 45,000 customers were without power, CPS Energy officials said.
The utility there were more than 8,000 lightning strikes recorded during the two storms.
CPS Energy officials urge residents to avoid downed power lines and report them to CPS Energy at 210-353-4357 (HELP). Do not attempt to move or drive over the lines. Treat all wires as if they are live. Power lines may still have electricity running through them even in an outage. As a reminder, please Move Over Slow Down as you see crews working on the side of the road for both driver and crew safety.
During a power outage customers should:
- Stay informed by viewing the latest outage information on CPS Energy's outage map and receiving updates through Facebook and Twitter.
- Stay away from downed power lines! Treat all wires as if they are "live" (energized). Report damaged power lines immediately by calling 911 and CPS Energy at 353-4327.
- Protect electronic devices such as televisions, stereos, computers and printers with a power strip equipped with a surge protector to avoid sudden spikes and surges that could damage electrical devices when power is restored.
- Keep one light turned on to know when power has been restored.
- Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed to keep food cold longer. According to the American Red Cross, an unopened refrigerator will keep foods cold for about four hours. Also, a full freezer will keep the temperature for 48 hours if the door remains closed.
- Use caution with candles and generators, carefully placing them so as not to create a fire or carbon monoxide poisoning hazard.
- Use caution when driving, as traffic signals may be disrupted.
- To report an outage or view a near-real-time map of affected areas, call 210-353-HELP (4357) or visit cpsenergy.com and click on Outage Center.