We live in North Dakota and this AM our power was cut for almost one and a half hrs.

[bluestarone]

Because of the storms in the southern US. BUT I've NEVER heard of this before. I have no problems with it BUT it was totally without warning. NO PLANNING was done. Asked Our Co-op what was going on, they said they have NO CHOICE in cutting the power! THEY had no idea of when it will go OFF and WHEN will come on. Also they DO NOT know if it's more than once or twice or three times or MORE. So i guess i'm saying THIS FN state does NOT give a shit about it's citizens right to know anything!! THAT'S what really pisses me off!!! There i'm done bitching now.

[sandensea]

1. But our Republican friends have just the solution for that:

Another tax cut for the rich! (but, of course)

[bluestarone]

2. YEA you got that right!

[sandensea]

6. Thanks!

Good luck with this situation.

If you're having power outages in North Dakota in February, when you weren't before, there needs to be a serious investigation and of course whatever changes to the board of directors as needed. I hope that happens - and soon.

[roamer65]

3. Your utility needs to refuse the cuts.

Disconnect from the grid if needed.

These cuts had better not come east.

[bluestarone]

4. All the years we've lived here i've NEVER

Heard of doing this! I mean NO FN planning! I'm sure people in stores were waiting to pay for anything for 1 and 1/2 hrs. THIS day and age it could have been planned. Hell we don't even know if they will do it again. Ore co-op doesn't either!

[jmbar2]

5. Be glad you're not in Texas

They decided 20 years ago to have their own independent power grid, not connected to the other 2 in the US. Now most of Texas is out of power for 2 days, with no backups, and few alternatives. It's bad...

And the repuqs there want to secede from the US! Please proceed...

[bluestarone]

7. True and i'm NOT blaming anyone in Texas (for the record)

I'm just saying this whole Thing here could have been done in a hell of a lot better way!! I Blaming the idiots here in North Dakota!!

[jmbar2]

9. Texas has a lot of blame to go around

Maybe just not in ND. At least you folks probably have a lot of winter clothes, bedding and wood stoves.

hang in there!

[bluestarone]

13. Will do!

[Rorey]

14. Probably not so much wood stoves

I grew up in North Dakota. It would have cost way too much to haul in wood.


Editing to add: I grew up in a part of the state that had very few trees.

[leftyladyfrommo]

10. Abilene just lost water, too. It's horrible. nt

[mrs_p]

8. Oh no. We're in Fargo and that

Hasn’t happened to us yet. But yes this state doesn’t give a shit about us. It’s run by republicans.

ETA - it was 20 below here this morning. We would have been freezing if it happened to us without warning!!

[bluestarone]

11. I hate evry rethugliqon state

You right that they care for NOBODY!! Be prepared for power outage BTW!! Stay safe my fellow North Dakotan.

[MyOwnPeace]

21. I have a friend in Oakes, ND.......

Electric heating and is signed onto a plan that allows cuts in power for the heat. Has happened for the past 3 days and the in-house temp has gone down to 51. Claims it saves on the electric bill but you have to wonder if it is worth it!

[bluestarone]

23. YEP! Also on peak power here too

Mostly affects the water heater here. We have NOT had that problem here. Our c0-op has been Awesome. Just found out this AM after calling them that THEY have no control of shutting this power on or off. It's entirely out of their hands. THAT'S what i don't get. I have NEVER heard of this before!

[leftyladyfrommo]

12. KCMO. We are having rolling blackouts. My power was

just out for an hour.

But it's so much better than Texas so we are not complaining.

[jmbar2]

15. You hang in there too!

Sending you warm thoughts!

[leftyladyfrommo]

18. Thank you. I was most worried about my outside cat.

Her heated mat is electric. She is toasty as long as it's on. She has a box outside that's all wrapped in blankets.

I brought her in put her in a dog crate until the power came back.

My dogs are not cat friendly so she has to stay out. Someone moved and left her. I hate people that do that.

[jmbar2]

20. Me too!

I moved from Houston a few years ago, but was appalled at how many folks leave dogs chained up in their yards in all kinds of weather. Hard to think about what's going on there now, but know that it's bad.

[TheBlackAdder]

16. Make sure you unplug most of your stuff and turn off heater and HWH incase surges when restored.

.

That's the thing that degrades your electronics--the power fluctuations as power is restored and load starts to consume it.

.

[bluestarone]

17. Good point!

Power is on now. No problems noted. BUT Don't know when and if there will be more.

[TheBlackAdder]

19. If you have a battery backup UPS use that to charge your cell phones. Don't plug into street power.

.

Your phones and laptops are delicate and the slightest spike can damage them.

.

[LakeArenal]

22. Welcome to third world country status.

A Third World country is an outdated and offensive term for a developing nation characterized by a population with low and middle incomes, and other socio-economic indicators.Oct 26, 2020

[Wellstone ruled]

24. During the Winter Months

Your Area does a reverse Power Sales to your neighbors to the North whom do the same for you during the Summer.

Your local Co-op's usually purchase power off the Hydro Network controlled by the Corps of Engineers Hydro Power Production operation.

We are all interconnected via the National Grid which is five decades out modded. And Texas is the weak link.

[bluestarone]

27. True. BUT i'm saying this is the FIRST time (that i'm aware of)

The co-op had NO IDEA of this whole thing. They were NOT able to warn any of us as to when and how long it would be. Totally weird the way this was handled in my books.

[Wellstone ruled]

32. Understand your statement.

Have you looked at what happened to the BLM and the Corps since Trump. Up to 85% of the Federal Land Management and Bureau of Reclamation staff and professionals are gone since their move to Grand Junction. Yes,always Considered the Co-ops response to issues or up coming outages out standing,but,those days are gone until the Governmental Agencies are restaffed.

[cwydro]

25. Surely if you live there, you have backup? A generator?

I live in NC, and I have a generator.

[bluestarone]

26. Yes we do have a generator. BUT

Not know when or if the power will come on or off is the problem! OUR co-op had NO IDEA of this. So i could go out start the generator and 5 mins later power could come back on. Only use generator when fully needed here.

[csziggy]

31. That's why we finally broke down and put in a whole house generator

The thing is entirely automatic. Power goes off, it comes on in 5 secs. Power comes on, it switches off, and the AC system is left off for five minutes so it doesn't overload the newly restored grid.

We've been through outages for hurricanes (for for anywhere from 4 to 7 days), for winter storms (usually only a couple of hours, and since our county loves our trees and has overhead lines, for branches falling at irregular times (repeat winter outages lengths).

We still have UPS backups for our electronics so they don't go out in the initial 5 second delay before the generator kicks in. And when we built this house we installed a whole house power surge protector. That way all those surges and outages didn't damage our electronics before we got the whole house generator.

The danged thing was expensive, but both my husband and I are too old (and not mechanically inclined) to manage a temporary generator. We have one of those for the well since it is too far from the house to run off the house generator. Mostly it's to make sure we can pump water for the horses. I guess if we get a long term outage, we can fire it up long enough to get cold showers!

[KY_EnviroGuy]

28. This may be a normal load shedding/sharing operation on the national grid.

The power grid is a nationwide system controlled by national grid operators and not your local power utilites or state politicians. I've worked in many power plants and when the grid man calls, it's like god is on the line. They must do what he/she says.

Often, a power plant will trip or go off line for unscheduled maintenance so others on the grid must take up the slack. When the grid is near capacity (it probably is right now), those with a little reserve have to share. When there is little or no reserve, rolling blackouts keeps everyone with power at least part time to keep people from freezing. Texas has its own independent grid, so it's a mini-me of the national grid and hence far more sensitive to plant outages.

Look at it this way: Your being without power for 1-1/2 hours may have saved numerous people in neighboring states from freezing to death.

Here's an informative article on our situation:

https://energycentral.com/c/um/epic-cold-snap-test-us-power-grid

Bitter cold weather is brutal on steam plants as well a wind turbines, as pipes and equipment fail unpredictably.

Let's all think of the millions of support personnel that are keeping us alive right now -- plant maintenance men/women, water and electrical system maintenance crews, etc. and thank them at every opportunity.

KY

[bluestarone]

29. TY for the site

Like i stated before We have NO problem what they did. It's HOW they did it! We could have been warned BEFORE hand that they were going to do it. (to add here i guess planning is NOT a rethuqlicon thing)

[Bradshaw3]

30. North Dakota and 13 other states are part of an energy pool

It's called the Southwest Power Pool and this is the first time they have ever had to do this. So those states are all connected, meaning when one falters they all will suffer.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/15/us/storm-blackouts.html