Areas in southeastern South Dakota and western Minnesota experienced rolling blackouts Tuesday morning due to extremely cold temperatures. Power stations were de-energized starting around 7am and continued for several hours. Thousands of residents were affected.
Chris Studer is the Public Relations Officer for East River Electric. He says all power has been restored but that could change this evening. And he’s asking for the public’s help.
“So we're just asking consumers to do whatever they can to delay electric usage through the evening, and even maybe into tomorrow morning. Delay doing some laundry, don't run the dishwasher if you can, turn off the lights that you don't need, and maybe turn down your thermostat a few degrees. Things like that. Anything that can reduce electric usage. Because every little bit helps. And we're asking folks to make those sacrifices so that we can keep the reliability of the grid for everyone else.”
Studer says energy use tends to be higher in the mornings and evenings when more people are home from work. Temperatures are expected to steadily rise this week. Studer says this will help reduce energy strain.