More than 2,700 Westar Energy customers lost power in northwest Lawrence Monday morning, according to the company's website.
The outage affected customers in the northwest part of Lawrence — north of Sixth Street and west of Iowa Street.
Westar Energy spokesperson Gina Penzig said the outage was likely caused by an animal that got into the Lawrence Hills substation, 1250 B North 1800 Road, near the Lawrence Energy Center.
Penzig said the majority of customers affected were without service from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. As of 2 p.m., power had been restored to all but 60 customers in Douglas County.
Westar reported via Twitter that the outage affected three circuits.
Comments
cheeseburger 1 year, 11 months ago
These outages unrelated to storms are becoming quite frequent. Does Westar have anything to say about that? Shall we call for an investigation? Who needs Smart Meters when electric service is so sporadic anyway?
none2 1 year, 11 months ago
If the quality of service is going down hill, perhaps smart meters become more important as then maybe they can do rolling blackouts/brownouts.
myech 1 year, 11 months ago
Be thankful you have power. Compare Lawrence to any other similar sized town and you will get similar numbers. QQ noobs.
Kontum1972 1 year, 11 months ago
investigation i vote....something really sucks about all of this.....i got your smart meter..i am holding up my right hand signal.....
Curtis Lange 1 year, 11 months ago
Damn. Odds finally caught up to me; our house had been spared from the other recent outages in the area. At least its a cool day by our summer standards.
There is something disturbing about all the outages in Lawrence lately though. Do your job Westar! Keep the lights on! That 'Westar-We'll try to keep a light on' joke is becoming a little more true each day.
tolawdjk 1 year, 11 months ago
Probably a rabid prarie squid in full mating plumage tried to cornhole a transformer. I'm guessing Bumblebee.
GreenEyedBlues 1 year, 11 months ago
Bird in transformer.
tolawdjk 1 year, 11 months ago
Animal in the gears is soooo last week. And the week before that, and the one before that as well.
Maybe Hitchcock knew something....
GreenEyedBlues 1 year, 11 months ago
No seriously. Bird in transformer.
Pywacket 1 year, 11 months ago
How hard would it be to place a mesh screen around the transformers? Is that realistic (or even doable) and would it save time & money in the long run?
kansasredlegs 1 year, 11 months ago
Darn those Smart Meters!!!! Again!!!!!
appleaday 1 year, 11 months ago
I've been without power 4 times in the past 3 weeks.
myech 1 year, 11 months ago
Hey everyone who jumps on here to immediatly complain. Millions of things can cause power outages, heat, storms, people slamming into poles, etc. the last outage was only out for just over 30 minutes... This happens, go outside and enjoy the sun for a change
daisyjay 1 year, 11 months ago
Saturday when our power was out it was supposedly limbs on a power line. Glad to see we're at least getting different excuses each time. Keeps it interesting.
cjenkins 1 year, 11 months ago
Power was out from about 5:20 - 7:50 a.m. in the Crestline and University Drive area. This is about the third major outage in 2-3 weeks.
KRichards 1 year, 11 months ago
2.5 hours is not major, it is a minor inconvenience.
MarcoPogo 1 year, 11 months ago
Like chlamydia?
KRichards 1 year, 11 months ago
Never had it, but I guess I will take your word for it.
MarcoPogo 1 year, 11 months ago
Nobody said you had it. Lighten up, Francis.
KRichards 1 year, 11 months ago
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MarcoPogo 1 year, 11 months ago
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KRichards 1 year, 11 months ago
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MarcoPogo 1 year, 11 months ago
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George_Braziller 1 year, 11 months ago
Mine was out two days in a row last week. During that 48 hour period I was without power for 16 of them.
lohrewok 1 year, 11 months ago
This is the second outage in 3 days! Over the past year, we've had 12 outages. My husband is on oxygen, when there is no power the concentrator doesn't run. That means I'd better be home in order to switch him to a cylinder. We have them stashed in just about every room in the house. Westar- people's lives depend on electricity! Get your act together!
Alceste 1 year, 11 months ago
Westar seemingly knows how to mow down trees but doesn't know how to keep the juice flowing. This state of affairs is just dandy....particularly with ever increasing rates. Word on the street is that Westar is creating these "outages" for the purposes of making better arguments to raise their rates.
myech 1 year, 11 months ago
word on the street.... give me a break
Alceste 1 year, 11 months ago
...and I see following a review of your posts, "myech", that you've just registered with LJWorld.com to make posts in support of Westar? Curious.....curious indeed.....
Word on the street is ALWAYS the BEST word......
myech 1 year, 11 months ago
Yup I did because of comments i read when power had just been restored. And you are wrong
Renaissance 1 year, 11 months ago
What are the odds that we have a copper thief on our hands? I remember last year power was lost in part of Topeka (one high school lost power for almost a full day) and it was blamed on animals in equipment. The actual cause was copper thieves, they just didn't want to release that information to encourage others to commit similar crimes.
gccs14r 1 year, 11 months ago
Westar--a third-world power grid for first-world prices.
kernal 1 year, 11 months ago
Good grief! What a bunch of spoiled babies. Wah, wah, wah. Residences and offices didn't start getting air conditioning until the 1950's and most not until the 1960's. Today, people start whining if the a/c thermostat is above 68 at night or above 74 during the day and think the thermostat should be turned up to the high 70's so they can wear t-shirts and shorts in the dead of Winter. Get a grip, people.
Lohrewok, would some type of battery powered generator run your husband's concentrator when the power goes out?
myech 1 year, 11 months ago
exactly what ive been trying to say to these people....
appleaday 1 year, 11 months ago
I don't think people are being crybabies -- it's just that most of us are wondering why this year is so different. I've lived in my current house for 4 years and haven't had a single power outage until this year and now I've had 4 of them. We're all just wondering what's going on and if Westar is trying to figure it out. It would be different if we had a choice of providers and felt like we could get electricity somewhere else if one company couldn't keep up with demand or fix problems quickly. As for the issue with oxygen, my late husband used a concentrator and we had a backup tank but, if you've never been around someone with a chronic lung disease, you have no idea how anxious (and more short of breath) they can get just with the thought of losing their oxygen supply. Backup generators don't provide backup for long. Just chill and have some understanding.
myech 1 year, 11 months ago
Things happen, sometimes we need to just suck it up. If the power goes out for 1 hour out of the 8k hours a year then it is a success. We are lucky we live in a part of the world where this is actually a concern to some people. Its understandable that its an issue for many people but for individuals to constantly state that Westar is not doing their job is complete ignorance. If people want another provider then make a power company... As for me I see them working overtime weekly to keep the power on. And as for the people stating that they are causing the outages themselves..... it costs them money when things like this happen... that is not even a possibility... I appreciate your comment and understand your concern but you cant lay blame on something that isn't directly someones fault.
kernal 1 year, 11 months ago
gccs14r, ask our soldiers who have served in third world countries about third world power grids before you start comparing ours to theirs.
none2 1 year, 11 months ago
I lived in a 3rd world country for 3 years as a teen (Philippines). I remember some power outages and some brownouts. However, it does seem like this area has had quite a few during good weather.
scientist23 1 year, 11 months ago
I'm part of the 64. Drats...
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