Heavy Snow Creates Power Outages Around Kenai Peninsula

Strong winds along with heavy wet snow and rain caused power outages around the Kenai Peninsula over the weekend.

The largest outage took place Sunday at 4 pm when the substation that serves the City of Kenai went off line, leaving about 2,500 homes and businesses without power.  The cause of the outage was a problem along the transmission line between Kenai and Nikiski, most likely due to a tree on the line.

HEA was able to reconfigure its distribution system and serve the City of Kenai from other sources and had power restored to the outage area at approximately 5 pm.  HEA crews plan to patrol the transmission between Kenai and Nikiski to locate the source of the problem.

As of Sunday evening at 7:00, HEA crews were responding to scattered outages around the Kenai Peninsula including:

• Poppy Lane in Soldotna ((149 homes)
• Hinnerman Street in Nikiski (20 homes)
• Robinson Loop near Sterling (24 homes)

There were also scattered outages in the Homer area over the weekend due to wet, heavy snow.  As of Sunday at 7:00 pm, the outages in the Homer area had been restored.

The Seldovia the area is currently being served by a generator at the Gerry Willard Generation Plant.  A tree hit the main power line that serves the South Kachemak Bay area Saturday night near Sunshine Point.  HEA will attempt to make repairs to that line on Monday, weather permitting.

If you are without power, please call HEA’s outage reporting hotline at 1-888-8OUTAGE or 1-888-868-8243

As a constant safety reminder, HEA would like to remind homeowners who own generators to make sure they are taking proper precautions.  If operated incorrectly, the generator can send power back on to the electric system and cause serious injury or death to linemen working on the power line.

It is very important that a transfer switch exists between the generator and the HEA system.  The transfer switch must be equipped with a visual open ensuring that the generator is not back feeding into the HEA system

Please make sure that you have properly installed your generator and if you have any questions, please contact a qualified electrician before operating the generator.

As always, please take precautions to protect sensitive electronic equipment and remember to STAY AWAY FROM ANY DOWNED POWER LINE.  THE LINES ARE VERY DANGEROUS AND CAN CAUSE SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH IF CONTACT IS MADE.  IF YOU SEE A DOWNED POWER LINE, LEAVE THE AREA AND PLEASE CALL HOMER ELECTRIC AT 1-888-8OUTAGE OR 1-888-868-8243.

For additional information contact:

Joe Gallagher, 283-2324
Public Relations Coordinator
Homer Electric Association
Kenai, AK 99611
907-283-2324
907-398-3478 (cell)

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