Residents Caught Off Guard By Sudden OG&E Rolling Blackout

Rolling blackouts, with no warning, caught many OG&E customers off guard Monday afternoon.

More than 20,000 OG&E customers lost power in all parts of the service area, including more than 6,000 customers in Oklahoma City.

OG&E officials issued an update at approximately 3 p.m. Monday saying it would no longer implement rolling blackouts following Southwest Power Pool's announcement of an energy emergency for the region.

Read: OG&E No Longer Implementing Rolling Blackouts As SPP Returns To Emergency Level 2

After digging out following a winter storm, El Reno residents were scrambling for generators and extension cables.

Dennis Taylor just recovered from COVID-19. While still short of breath, his family worked to help get some heat going in his home with subzero temperatures outside.

“Never had this cold of temperature and I’ve lived in El Reno for 62 years,” said Taylor. “We’ve got a pot of beans on the stove when electricity went out, so my son and daughter in law came by and helped me get the generator out, get all the extension cords strung out throughout the house.”

Power was out for nearly an hour before being turned back on by the power company.

If anything like that happens again, El reno sophomore Livia Fees said getting homework done would be difficult. 

“Hopefully if the power goes out, they'll have a little sympathy,” said Fees. “But if not, then I guess I am failing.”

Temperatures near 0 make it difficult to stay outside for long, bringing unwanted flashbacks to the year 2020.

“I’m tired of just sitting at the house,” said Fees. “If feels like the start of coronavirus all over again.”

El Reno officials still encourage folks stay home in this extreme cold as they brace for the next round of snowfall.