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HOEC: Extreme cold caused power lines to shrink, leading to Monday morning outage

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The Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative has issued a peak alert notice to its members, asking them to conserve energy use through 9 p.m. today. The alert was issued Sunday afternoon ahead of single-digit overnight lows, and early Monday morning, co-op officials reported, a power outage affected 999 member households.

It may be expected that another peak alert notice could be issued for Tuesday, as the National Weather Center office in Springfield forecasts an overnight low of 5 degrees and a daytime high of 19 degrees, prompting a cold weather advisory.

The peak alert issued by HOEC is intended to keep the price of electricity down and service uninterrupted during cold winter weather. The initial notice was sent out Sunday afternoon ahead of single-digit nighttime lows. HOEC officials reminded members they are trying to keep the price of electricity down, as it is affected by energy usage during peak events.

To reduce power usage customers should avoid using major appliances at the same time, turn thermostats down and keep them down by about 2% to 3%, and turn off lights and unplug small appliances when not in use. Other recommended power saving measures are washing clothing in cold water, postponing hot showers and baths, and limiting the use of space heaters.

Member Communications Specialist Stephanie Beltz-Price said early Monday morning 608 members served by the West Plains substation and 391 members served by the substation on JJ Highway were out of power for just over 2 hours.

Reports were made and crews dispatched around 5:30 a.m., she added. explaining the extreme cold weather caused the lines to shrink and the tension on the lines pulled the wire out of the conductors, breaking it just outside the JJ Highway substation.

Because of the time of the outage, crews were called in from home and responded accordingly, she said, and all members had power restored as of 7:55 a.m.

“We understand the temperatures are dangerously cold and we don’t want anyone to be without power,” said co-op General Manager Dan Singletary. “Thank you to the linemen who responded and worked in the cold to get our members power back on.”

Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative (HOEC), headquartered in West Plains, delivers cost-efficient, reliable electricity to about 25,000 meters in south-central Missouri across six counties: Douglas, Ozark, Texas, Shannon, Howell and Oregon, amounting to 4,932 miles of line. More information about HOEC, including a map of outages as they occur, can be found at www.hoecoop.org.

THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER

The NWS-issued cold weather advisory is in effect from midnight Monday to midnight Tuesday. The forecast shows sunshine Tuesday, but the high temperature of 19 degrees will come with 5 to 10 mph winds gusting possibly as high as 18 mph, bringing wind chill values as low as 5 degrees below zero during the day.

At night, increasing cloud cover looks to keep the low temperature in the double-digits for the first time in several days, but only just, at 10 degrees. A 5-to-7 mph wind is expected, with gusts again possibly reaching 18 mph, bringing wind chills as low as 2 degrees.

Midweek, the mercury on the thermometer is expected to climb, reaching a high of 35 on Wednesday under mostly sunny conditions. Highs are forecast by the NWS to be in the 40s at least from Thursday through Sunday, and overnight lows look to be in the 20s Wednesday through Friday, and 32 overnight Saturday into Sunday.

Plenty of sunshine is expected through the week, with a chance of rain called for over the weekend. Meteorologists are currently expecting between a 10% and 30% chance of rain, though it is uncertain as to the timing and location of the highest chances.



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