Inside El Paso Electric’s response to power problems

EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — As extreme heat drives up electricity use across the borderland, El Paso Electric says the extra demand can put more pressure on equipment and force crews to quickly prioritize outages and safety hazards.

At the utility’s Distribution Operations Center, operators monitor incoming reports of power problems, determine which calls need the fastest response and dispatch crews across the service area. El Paso Electric prioritizes safety hazards such as downed wires, even if another outage affects more customers.

Andrew Lozano, a supervisor in distribution operations, said the center helps connect emergency calls to field response. “We are the bridge. That gap between a phone call to our first responders and our field crews to handle all trouble, emergency and outages,” Lozano said.

El Paso Electric also relies on smart meters — digital meters attached to many homes and businesses — that can automatically alert the operations center when there is an outage. Distribution operator Arturo Perez said those alerts can come quickly. “We get that signal within the first five minutes, and we are able to dispatch our resources to make sure that they get out there as quickly as possible,” Perez said.

Jordan Salas reports on Inside El Paso Electric’s response to power problems (Credit: KFOX14)

While crews were working inside the operations center, El Paso Electric received a report of a power problem at an El Paso Water facility and sent senior journeyman lineman Edward Garcia to investigate.

“If it’s something small and we can take care of it, we’ll go ahead and take care of it. If it’s bigger than what we need, we’ll call in reinforcements,” Garcia said.

Garcia found the voltage coming from the power line to the El Paso Water facility was too high, and he called in another crew to check the equipment feeding the area and trace the problem further. “We can go ahead and get substation headed this way,” Garcia said over the radio.

The utility has previously linked some outages to extreme heat, raising questions about whether it has enough electricity to meet demand.

El Paso Electric CEO Kelly Tomblin has said the company had enough power available and that the problem involved aging equipment in the local distribution system.

Garcia said extreme heat adds pressure to the system, particularly when demand is high. “The heat impacts us quite a bit because the equipment doesn’t have time to cool,” he said. “Along with that, consumption goes through the roof. It’s hot outside. People want their air conditioner on whether they’re home or not.”

As El Paso continues to grow and more homes and businesses connect to the grid, Garcia said the utility has had to grow as well.

“Technology grows with the city. Also, the manpower,” he said. “When I started many years ago, it was only about 800 employees. Now we’re up to about 1,600 employees. So we’re growing with the city. It’s just a process to get there.”

El Paso Electric said customers can visit its outage center for information on outages. Customers can report an outage by calling the utility’s outage line or using its mobile app.

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