AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Thousands of people lost power Thursday night after a transformer at a southwest Austin substation went offline around 8:20 p.m., according to Austin Energy. The utility said Friday morning it is working on a repair.
Austin Energy said about 6,400 customers lost power when the transformer went offline Thursday night, and crews immediately responded and rerouted power to other equipment, restoring power to all those affected.
That fix, however, was temporary, an Austin Energy spokesperson said. Crews have been working through the night to investigate the issue and find a permanent solution, according to Austin Energy. During a news conference Friday at Austin City Hall, utility leaders said the problem is not heat-related, and tests are ongoing to determine the root cause.
“We’re not going to stop working on this until we find a permanent solution for this,” Bob Kahn, Austin Energy's general manager, said Friday.
Austin Energy said the hot temperatures expected Friday could overload the equipment used for the temporary fix because of the additional power demand, which may cause more outages for the customers in the area.
Austin Energy said it is testing the existing transformer to see if it can be put back into service, and if test results are favorable, that equipment could be back in service Friday afternoon to lower the risk of outages.
While testing is going on, Austin Energy is positioning a temporary transformer to serve customers. That work could take 24 hours, and those customers may experience outages Friday.
Similar outages happened in east Austin Wednesday, which was the hottest day of the year so far.
Austin Energy estimated the outage Wednesday impacted roughly 7,000 people. It started around 5 p.m. and lasted until around 9 p.m. Austin Energy said a sensor caused the outage, likely because of a high load due to high heat and people working to cool their homes.
“Each substation is equipped with protective systems — and they work similar to how you would have one in your house, a fuse, a breaker box, something along those lines — when too much current is being pulled into a piece of equipment, those sensors are designed to take that offline so that it doesn’t cause catastrophic damage and that’s what happened in this substation,” Matt Mitchell with Austin Energy explained.
Mitchell said Austin Energy's substation team and engineers worked to reset the sensors to accommodate a higher energy load while still operating safely, and the utility doesn't anticipate the issue happening again at that substation.
Austin Energy said customers in the southwest Austin area should be prepared for potential power outages.
The utility recommended that people in the area review emergency plans and check emergency kits. Customers who experience outages can minimize power surges by turning off appliances, lights and other equipment.
Cooling center locations and hours of operation can be found online.
Austin Energy is also asking customers to conserve energy. People should aim to use as little energy as safely possible, specially between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Austin Energy said.
Energy conservation tips:
Find more conservation tips are available on Austin Energy's website.
Austin Energy said it will work to keep affected customers updated as new information is available. Utility leaders will also hold a press conference at 10 a.m. Friday to provide more information about the outages. That will be livestreamed at the top of this article and on the KXAN Facebook page.
