As Nebraska anticipates a sizeable winter expected to bring heavy snow and high winds into the state, Nebraska Public Power District transmission and distribution line crews are on alert and prepared to restore power from any transmission or distribution outages in its service territory.

NPPD has put extensive funds into its transmission system over the past few years, providing a reliable infrastructure that helps keep  the lights on. On top of that, NPPD has done some extensive vegetation management in the areas of transmission lines, removing trees and other growth that could potentially interrupt electrical service. NPPD crews respond as quick and safely as possible to outages during winter storms.

With any winter storm there is the potential for power outages, particularly at the distribution level – residences, commercial business, and manufacturing. This may occur when trees near distribution lines are either blown down by high winds or brought down by heavy snow onto power lines. For NPPD, this could occur in its retail communities it serves – such as Kearney, Norfolk, Scottsbluff, York, and many other communities. 

 

Following is information on outage information resources from NPPD:

 Storm Center Website

During a storm, NPPD’s website is one source of information regarding outages. Real-time outages can be found at www.nppd.com/outages. This will show a real-time map where outages are in retail communities that NPPD serves. Once an outage has been restored, it will no longer show on the map.

 Social Media

In addition, you can follow storm outages on Twitter and Facebook. Our outage specific Twitter feed is https://twitter.com/nppdstormcenter or @NPPDstormcenter. Our Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/nebraskapublicpowerdistrict. Both social media sites list where the outage is and how many customers are affected – and also provide a message as to when power has been restored.

 Nebraska Town Index

There also may be communities served by many of our wholesale public power partners. For example, the City of Columbus is served by Loup Public Power District. If you believe there is an outage in a community and it does not show on the NPPD map, go to NPPD’s town index at www.nppd.com/about-us/nebraska-town-index and there is a pull down menu that lists all communities in the state, providing various pieces of information. For example, the community of Malcolm’s electric service operator is Norris Public Power District, which would have information on the number of outages in that community. Another example, the City of York would have NPPD listed as the electric system operator, and NPPD would have information on the outage situation.

 NPPD Corporate Communications

Another method, especially if you are doing any kind of round up story on the number of outages is to give NPPD Corporate Communications a call. I can be reached at 402-563-5667 (business hours) or at 402-276-7547 (cell phone, anytime). We will be monitoring all retail operation outages with the time of the outage, number of meters (or customers) that are without power, and when service has been restored.

In the event that there are power outages, NPPD will be available to give you the most updated information.