Friday morning ice storm update: 250 still without power in Vernon

Restoration of service to customers impacted by the west Texas winter storm is entering its final phases.  As of 8:30 a.m., the number of customers without power totaled approximately 440 in the Abilene District, as compared to approximately 14,400 at 10:30 Wednesday morning. 

In Vernon, the estimate to restore power by Thursday night proved to optimistic, and the time has been pushed back to Friday night.

On Thursday, crews reduced significantly the number of remaining outages throughout the Abilene District and will continue those efforts today.   Approximately 380 line mechanics, tree-trimmers, assessors and others are involved in the restoration effort. 

“We anticipate making steady progress today,” said Greg Blair, AEP Texas manager of Community Affairs and Customer Service.  “We are now chipping away at individual outages that left small groups of customers without power.  The crews have been hitting or in some cases beating the estimated restoration projections for restoring power to most customers in specific areas. 

Blair noted that some individual outages will still have to be addressed after the restoration effort has achieved the 95 percent point in most areas impacted by the storm.    “We will continue our activities until we have restored service to every customer whose home or facility is capable of taking power. Our restoration team is committed to restoring power as quickly as safely possible.”

Breakdown of Areas with the Most Outages
and Adjusted Preliminary Estimated Restoration Times

(As of 8:30 a.m. 10/30/2020)

Area            Number of Customers Out                 Estimated Restoration Time Frame

Childress                  90                                                Achieved 95 percent restoration

Abilene                      0                                                Achieved 95 percent restoration

Vernon                   250                                                9 p.m. on Friday

Stamford                 50                                                Achieved 95 percent restoration

Hamlin                     55                                                5 p.m. on Friday                                          

Cisco                          0                                                Achieved 95 percent restoration

These estimates may change as restoration efforts continue and are projections for restoration of service to most customers, who can take power. There are a significant number of individual outages that will have to be addressed on a one-to-one basis and will require additional time to restore service.

Customers can track the status of a specific outage in their area by visiting the Outage & Problems section at www.aeptexas.com.  The section features an outage map with the most current status projections.