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MILLVILLE (Cache County) — Hundreds of northern Utah homeowners will be without power for most of the day Saturday thanks to a planned outage that Rocky Mountain Power representatives say has to happen, despite the cold and snow.
The power company will be installing new power polls from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. To do so safely, they have to cut power during that time to sections of Millville and Providence.
With five kids under the age of 8, and a few homebound neighbors, the plan has the Wadley family worried.
“(The) biggest concern for me is keeping them fed and warm, somehow,” Tiffany Wadley said.
“There are neighbors we have that can’t leave the house. They’re homebound or disabled,” John Wadley said.
“We understand that it’s cold and an inconvenience for customers to go without power,” said Jeff Hymas, spokesman for Rocky Mountain Power.
“We can’t just wait until spring to get this kind of work done,” Hymas said. “We provide power to a large area, and there is maintenance going on somewhere pretty much every day throughout the year.”
But because this outage is a bit longer than usual, Rocky Mountain Power sent out notices last week warning residents of the upcoming outages and to make preparations.
“Everyone should be prepared to go without power at some time, whether it’s a planned outage like this or an unexpected outage, like if a car hits a power pole,” Hymas said.
“Some might say it’s a good exercise in emergency preparedness,” John Wadley said. “I would say it’s not up to Rocky Mountain Power when to decide when we need to practice our emergency preparedness.”
Representatives from Rocky Mountain Power are urging customers to review the section on their website devoted to tips on how to prepare for this outage and others. For more information, visit www.rockymountainpower.net/outage.
