Extreme cold has slowed the flow of natural gas fuel to power plants in the central U.S. including Xcel Energy power plants in Texas and New Mexico, limiting output at a time of record energy demand, according to a news release. To protect the regional grid and maintain reliability, Xcel Energy, along with area electric co-ops and municipal utilities such as Lubbock Power & Light that purchase electricity from Xcel Energy, have been forced to interrupt power to pre-selected electric circuits for up to one hour at a time until system conditions improve, the release issued Monday afternoon states.
More than one service interruption may be possible, and there is no need to report an outage during a controlled outage event, according to the utility. If customers experience a service interruption of more than one hour, they should contact 1-800-895-1999 or report the outage at xcelenergy.com or through the Xcel Energy customer app.
Tips to stay warm during possible power outage in historic cold temperatures
Power outages possible, how to stay safe By Camelia Juarez | February 11, 2021 at 6:52 PM CST - Updated February 11 at 6:52 PM
LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - This morning one person died, and another was poisoned with carbon monoxide because they were trying to stay warm.
The couple kept their stove burners on overnight and woke up deep into the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Lubbock fire said this couple did not have a carbon monoxide detector and if your home relies on natural gas be sure to have one and replace the batteries.
As the sunny South Plains prompts more property owners to invest in solar energy production, companies like Xcel Energy are encouraging customers to contact their utility company.
Energy Sector Growth Projected for 2021
Enter your number to get our free mobile app
It s being projected that both renewable energy and oil will be seeing a significant growth by the second half of 2021.
Wes Reeves, representative for Xcel Energy said:
The country always needs energy [.] Whether that’s oil and gas, or the growing renewable energy industries that we have here, we know that energy is going to be needed.
Oil prices and energy production are already said to be up from when the pandemic first began, but KAMC News reports, however, that job recovery isn t happening as fast.
Energy companies see increase of customers struggling to pay bills since COVID-19 started
Here are what some are doing to try and help.
VIDEO: Energy companies are seeing an increase of customers struggling to pay bills as the pandemic continues. By Taylor Mitchell | December 15, 2020 at 6:28 PM CST - Updated December 15 at 6:44 PM
AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Atmos Energy and Xcel Energy are seeing an increase in customers needing payment arrangements this year.
This year Atmos Energy has provided help to over double the number of their customers compared to last year.
“So last year, just for FY19 we were able to help over 2,600 households and that is just in the West Texas area. So far, FY20 we’ve helped almost more than 4,700 households, so well more than double as you can see that we the increase,” said Michael Gonzales, manager public affairs at Atmos Energy.