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Power customers experience outage

Repairs will cause interruptions today

ELKINS — MonPower customers affected by an unplanned power outage early Thursday morning will experience two brief outages again today.

Todd Meyers, a MonPower spokesperson, said an outage occurred between the hours of 6 and 7:11 a.m. Thursday morning, impacting many customers in Randolph County.

“We had a piece of equipment go bad at our substation right outside of Elkins,” Meyers said. “A number of those substations are linked together by lines, so when there was a problem there, it impacted the interconnected network in the whole area.

“There are some protective devices in the substation that protect the equipment, and there are three of these and they are made of porcelain,” he continued. “One of them was replaced a couple of months ago, so it’s brand new; one went bad (Thursday) — sometimes this is an age type of thing, because they’re exposed to weather and what not.”

He added the protective piece that failed and the third piece each will be replaced.

To make necessary repairs, customers will see two brief outages today — approximately five minutes between 4 and 4:30 p.m. and another between 10 and 10:30 p.m. for a maximum of 15 minutes, according to Meyers.

“These interruptions will allow them to do the work and get everything put back together the way it needs to be,” he said. “We know this is inconvenient, but we’re trying to find the best time to do this that is the least disruptive to schools and others.”

Three schools in Randolph County were affected by Thursday’s outage, causing the schools to be closed. They included Tygarts Valley Middle/High School, George Ward Elementary School and Pickens School.

“Right now we’re reaching out to the schools and reaching out to some of the public officials in those towns to let them know what’s going on,” Meyers said.

Meyers also noted approximately 5,000 customers across the county were affected, including 2,300 in Elkins, 940 in Mill Creek, 551 in Huttonsville, 400 in Bowden, 390 in Valley Bend and 275 in Glady.

“If you were out (of power Thursday), you’re going to notice two, brief interruptions (today),” he said.

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