Power outages create problems for Maricopa, but solutions in sight

Where were you when the electricity went out last night? On July 4? On July 6? Wherever you were and whatever you were doing, chances are that the loss of power proved to be a huge inconvenience.

Especially during the July 6 outage, which lasted approximately four hours from about 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., Maricopa residents learned how to open automatic garage doors manually, to do their hair without the aid of curling irons or blow dryers and how to start their day without a cup of coffee.

Young children and babies were affected also. Six-month-old Ian Martinez had to make do with cold formula and had trouble napping. “He’s just like his dad,” explained mom, Joanna Martinez. “When he gets too warm, he gets cranky.”

No air conditioning makes Ian Martinez an unhappy baby.

According to Ruby Irigoyen, customer service representative at Electrical District No.3, homeowners should take certain measures during an electrical outage. Keep refrigerators closed, close drapes, blinds and windows and unplug electrical appliances, leaving a single light on to determine when power is restored.

Air conditioners should be turned off immediately. Do not turn them on until 10-15 minutes after the electricity comes on due to the huge surge that occurs. Such surges can potentially burn out air conditioner motors.

If a homeowner believes that the outage is specific to their residence and not part of a larger grid, call (877) 811-8700 immediately (24 hours a day) to report the problem. Once power is restored to the home, the resident will receive a call back to determine that the problem has been alleviated.

Approximately 8,000 residents in the Maricopa, Hidden Valley and Stanfield areas were without power on July 6, some 3,000 Arizona Public Service (APS) customers and another 5,000 who get service from Electrical District No.3 (ED3). Western Area Power Administration’s (WAPA) transmission facility is the general provider to Maricopa, supplying both APS and ED3.

Local businesses had to go to contingency plans during the hours without electricity. Hop Sing’s restaurant simply couldn’t open for breakfast until the power was restored.

Breakfast was delayed due to the power outage last Wednesday.

Manuelito Lanza, local Bank of America manager, explained that the bank can still do deposits, loans and most transactions without electrical service even though computer access would be unavailable.

ATMs will work unless the outage is extremely widespread. Customers are still able to access their safe deposit boxes. “Even if we have to use flashlights and calculators, we intend to do business as usual,” said Lanza.

Bank of America promises business as usual.

At Bashas’ the loss of lights and cash registers caused a store closure, which impacted sales. “We have back-up batteries for the registers,” explained assistant manager Aaron Willis. “However, due to the many outages lately, those batteries are pretty drained.”

“Our refrigerators will hold for an hour or two, but after that we have product liability,” continued Willis. “We like to be proactive when the power goes.”

In order to ensure product quality, Bashas’ now has a supply of dry ice on site. Previously the store was having dry ice brought in during outages.

Dry ice ensures product quality at Bashas’.

The July 4 outage occurred when an individual hit a transformer box with a vehicle. The box, located near an entrance to the Fry’s shopping center, was pushed back several feet. Exposed wiring arced, causing an internal explosion.

Other recent and shorter outages have been caused by a flock of birds flying into wires and high winds blowing two wires together. The longer, July 6 outage was a result of a line fault at the WAPA substation. That fault was sealed (much like a circuit breaker), according to Joseph Herrara, ED3 engineering consultant with KR Saline & Associates, but a second fault occurred, causing the entire system to go down.

Hopefully relief is in sight. Monday, ED3 customers received a letter from general manager Grant Ward. The letter stated, “ED3 is currently connecting approximately 300 new homes and businesses to the electric system each month, as well as installing miles upon miles of new distribution conductors needed to deliver power to each new home.”

Ward, citing long-range planning, wrote, “This includes planning and financing new distribution substations and high voltage transmission lines that are required to assure reliable electric service to all of the District’s customers.”

According to Herrara, these plans include the rebuilding and upgrading of the local substation to be completed by mid-October of this year. “Any outage is one too many for us,” he affirmed.

On July 16 a planned power outage will occur from 2-5 a.m. in order to install new and better equipment. “It’s like a car with a 100,000 miles on it,” explained Herrara. “Things start to go wrong.” Asked if there would be other, unplanned outages due to equipment failure, he replied, “Again, it’s the car analogy. When you take off for a trip, you don’t know ahead of time that you’re going to have a flat tire, but you do.”

Maricopa residents are hoping that the electric companies don’t have any more flat tires!