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More rolling outages planned by utility companies Tuesday - Click here for outage maps

OG&E and Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO) are among the utility companies SPP has asked to start planned outages on Tuesday.

ARKANSAS, USA —

OG&E Outage Map - SWEPCO Outage Map - Ozark Electric Outage Map 

Southwest Power Pool (SPP) says it will call on utility providers to start temporary controlled interruptions of services to avoid widespread energy outages during the ongoing winter storm on Tuesday (Feb. 16). 

OG&E and Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO)  are utility companies SPP has asked to start the planned outages. 

Everyone across Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley woke up to record low temperatures Tuesday morning. 

SPP says the extreme cold from the storm has caused limited natural gas, wind supply and high demand for electricity across the Midwest. An Energy Emergency Alert Level 3 was declared by SPP due to the situation. 

SPP is the power grid operator for the Midwest covering 14 states in the central U.S., including Arkansas and Oklahoma. 

“SPP has directed us to implement temporary interruptions of service,” said Brian Alford, OG&E spokesperson. “These will be short-term, controlled interruptions and may continue through mid-week.

The emergency procedure comes Tuesday following planned outages that took place on Monday (Feb 15). 

SPP says it will work with OG&E and SWEPCO to restore the regional power grid to full capacity. 

Ozark Electric Cooperative and Carroll Electric both say they have been contacted by SPP to participate in the rolling outages as well.  

Utility companies and SPP are urging customers to reduce electricity use during the storm. 

Customers can help by -

  •  Set thermostats lower than usual, if health permits
  •  Postpone using major electric appliances such as stoves, dishwashers, and clothes dryers until mid-day or after 9 p.m. when the demand for electricity decreases
  • Turn off electric lights and appliances that you do not need or are not using
  • Businesses should minimize the use of electric lighting and electricity-consuming equipment as much as possible 
  • Large consumers of electricity should consider shutting down or reducing non-essential production processes 

RELATED: How to stay warm if your power goes out

RELATED: Arkansas Division of Emergency Management - conserve natural gas during winter storm

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