{"id":133352,"date":"2026-01-22T11:13:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T11:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/133352\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T11:13:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T11:13:23","slug":"lpl-xcel-energy-prepare-for-winter-storm-power-outages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/133352\/","title":{"rendered":"LP&L, Xcel Energy prepare for winter storm power outages"},"content":{"rendered":"

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – While both ERCOT<\/a> and the Southwest Power Pool<\/a> expect normal grid conditions during the upcoming winter storm, infrastructure damage like downed power lines could still lead to local outages.<\/p>\n

LP&L and Xcel Energy are positioning crews and preparing their systems for the long weekend weather event.<\/p>\n

Ice poses main threat to power lines<\/p>\n

LP&L spokesperson Matt Rose said ice is the main concern during winter storms, as its weight can snap power lines and branches above them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is a large storm, we will have outages. But our crews will be out there. They\u2019ll be ready to go to get that power on as quickly and safely as possible,\u201d Rose said.<\/p>\n

While customers in the City of Lubbock buy power from their provider of choice, LP&L remains responsible for maintaining and repairing the infrastructure that delivers power to homes and businesses.<\/p>\n

Rose said crews will be stationed around town to fix issues, but the utility hopes to restore power even before repairs are completed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are going to try to do, is we are going to try to get customers that are on a circuit that\u2019s been damaged onto one that\u2019s currently operating, so that crews can isolate that damage, they can fix that line, but we can get folks on faster than what it\u2019s going to take them, three, four hours to actually do those repairs,\u201d Rose said.<\/p>\n

Snow is not a big factor in outages but can impact how quickly crews can reach problem areas, Rose said.<\/p>\n

For Xcel Energy, which powers many small towns and rural areas outside Lubbock, access can be even more challenging.<\/p>\n

Casey Meeks, the regional vice president for Distribution Operations in Southwestern Public Service, said crews are already preparing for the storm and will be stationed throughout the service area, but crew safety is the top concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to put them at risk of accidents or issues. That doesn\u2019t help restore the power quickly, right? So, we want to make sure they\u2019re safe. It may take a little longer, just have patience with us. Think of those guys that are out working in those conditions and, you know, try to have a little bit of grace for them,\u201d Meeks said.<\/p>\n

Grid improvements and backup plans<\/p>\n

Xcel operates on the Southwest Power Pool, which covers many states. Meeks said with the larger territory, there are more resources and the company does not expect issues providing power.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut our energy supply group is also preparing for these cold weather events. They have procedures in place where they\u2019re looking at fuel availability and having some backup options at several of our plants, as well,\u201d Meeks said.<\/p>\n

LP&L has invested $500 million over the last eight years in system improvements, making it stronger than before, Rose said.<\/p>\n

While customers are not asked to conserve energy, Rose said turning off unnecessary lights or delaying laundry loads can help the overall system.<\/p>\n

\u201cERCOT as a system has every single resource ready to bring to bear, and they\u2019re going to do that. But everything that you can do on your end to be efficient helps the overall system,\u201d Rose said.<\/p>\n

Outage reporting<\/p>\n

LP&L has smart meters across town, so customers experiencing outages<\/a> do not need to call. The meters automatically notify the utility.<\/p>\n

Xcel is implementing smart meters across its service area, but hasn\u2019t reached all of them. So, customers should call to report outages or use the company\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – While both ERCOT and the Southwest Power Pool expect normal grid conditions during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[8429,7990,57033,14576,5715,4607,451,3413,3458,973,13881,17149,66,57030,168,170,169,57032,10284,38262,20559,10470,8426,12330,10475,14588,3216,172,12396,57031],"class_list":["post-133352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-and","tag-brittany-crittenden","tag-casey-meeks","tag-conditions","tag-crews","tag-damage","tag-energy","tag-ercot","tag-grid","tag-infrastructure","tag-light","tag-lines","tag-local","tag-lpl","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-matt-rose","tag-outage","tag-outages","tag-pool","tag-power","tag-southwest","tag-storm","tag-supply","tag-system","tag-utilities","tag-weather","tag-winter","tag-xcel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}