Some outages last overnight Dec. 20
By Alexandrea Dahlstrom
STAFF WRITER
A winter storm Dec. 20 downed power lines throughout Walworth County leaving 17,000 Alliant Energy customers without electricity.
According to the National Weather Service, 1.85 inches of rain fell in Walworth County on Dec. 19 into Dec. 20 and turned to snow at about 2:30 p.m. Dec. 20.
The wet atmosphere from the rain and quick change over to snow created wet, heavy accumulation, which was the primary cause for all the outages, said Alliant Energies Public Relations Director Steve Schultz.
“This kind of snow is just too heavy for branches and even some power lines,” he said. “Along with the high winds, many lines went down.”
Snowfall totaled 3.8 inches in Walworth County and wind gusts recorded in Janesville reached 36 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
Schultz said some outages were also caused by vehicles that slid off the road and hit utility poles.
As of Friday, about 1,400 customers in Walworth County, primarily in Fontana, Williams Bay and Lake Geneva, remained without power.
“It may be until tomorrow until all the power in the county is restored,” Schultz said Friday.
Schultz said the weather conditions made it difficult for Alliant’s crews to reach the areas that needed power restored. He said crews had to stop when plows stopped, leaving people without power and some without heat overnight. Many customers were without power from Thursday evening into Friday.
“A lot of the damage was in remote areas, we just could not reach safely. The crews were battling the elements that included high speed winds and blowing snow,” Schultz said.
Alliant Energy suggests that its customers report outages immediately to its non-emergency line or its website even if they think the outage has already been reported. Schultz said Alliant tracks the number of customers without power based on the reports it receives of outages.
Storm readiness
Schultz said when a storm is predicted, Alliant begins to get its crews ready. The crews can work 16 straight hours but then must rest for eight before going back to work.
During a storm, the crews are already rested with some on stand-by ready to rotate. The same goes for the customer representatives, who are available by phone for customers with concerns or looking for updates. However, the Dec. 20 storm was so bad and so many people were without power that customers could not get through to live representatives. Instead, an automated message told them to try again later.
“We understand how frustrating it can be for our customers,” Schultz said. “Our crews and staff are doing everything they can to restore your power as soon as possible.”
Schultz said Alliant responds to the largest outages first including the places that need power back quickly such as hospitals and emergency services. He said during the storm Alliant had “all hands on deck” and people working around the clock.
Even with a full staff and crew, sometimes it is still difficult to keep customers updated Schultz said. During last week’s storm, Alliant’s website said power would be restored in two hours or showed no reports of power outages. Schultz said the company was too busy to keep the website updated.
Alliant has a facebook page on which it posts updates on and answers questions during times of crisis. It also has a twitter account that is just beginning to be used as a tool to communicate with customers. Robocalls are sometimes used in cases of large outages to update customers.
