Lake Region Electric Cooperative
January 4, 2018
An outage at Lake Eunice Substation was caused by a broken jumper wire on a Great River Energy transmission (GRE) line near Audubon, which feeds power to the substation. The failure was most likely caused by the cold temperatures.
As a GRE crew traveled to the area to fix the problem, LREC crews worked to back feed electricity through the LREC distribution system to provide temporary power until GRE was able to make repairs and restore power on the transmission line.
October 26, 2017
High winds took down trees that fell on lines throughout our system. Crews were busy much of the day restoring power from downed trees :
A dead tree fell on a transmission line owned and operated by Great River Energy (GRE). The crossarm broke off resulting in loss of power to Pelican Lake and Tansem substations - affecting over 2100 members. LREC crews assisted GRE to change it out. Power was restored at 3:11 p.m.
A tree on the line took down the Frazee Substation at 3:41 p.m. - affecting 555 members. Power was restored at 4:49 p.m.
October 3, 2017//3:45 AM
Two blown arresters caused the Dora Substation to be off at approximately 3:45 early this morning leaving almost 600 members in the dark. A crew made the repair and power was restored at 5:30 a.m.
Past Updates From JUNe 13 Storms
As of 3:30 p.m. Thursday, June 15, only a small handful of LREC service accounts are without power following Tuesday’s storms. Those are all expected to be restored by the end of today.
Thank you all for your patience as we worked to recover services from the storm. If anyone is still experiencing a power outage after today, please call LREC at (800) 552-7658 in case an isolated outage had not been logged.
As of 9:00 a.m. Thursday, June 15, approximately 300 LREC service accounts remain without power following Tuesday’s storms.
Crews continue working on several small outages throughout the system, many of which are broken individual poles, uprooted trees, and debris from trees. The majority of services will be restored today, however, due to the extent of the damage some accounts may not be restored until Friday. Your continued patience is appreciated as the crews continue working to restore services as quickly and safely as possible.
As of 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, June 14th, approximately 400 LREC service accounts remain without power from the June 13th storms.
For the safety of our crews we are discontinuing repairs as of nightfall, but will begin working at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow. Your continued understanding of the challenges involved in restoring power is greatly appreciated.
As of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 14, less than 1,400 LREC service accounts remain without power following last night’s storms.
Progress continues to be made, and we hope to have the majority of services restored by nightfall. However, due to the extent of damage, some accounts may not be restored until Friday. Additional crews have been called in for assistance from neighboring cooperatives. Your continued patience is appreciated as the crews continue working to restore services as quickly and safely as possible.
As of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 14, over 3,000 Lake Region Electric Cooperative service accounts remain without power following last night’s storms.
Crews have been working all night and will continue to work today to restore power; however, due to the extent of damage some accounts may not be restored until Friday. “Our crews are dealing with multiple trees down on multiple lines which need to be cleared before the lines can be restored,” said Al Fazio, VP of Engineering and Operations. “We’ve also found significant damage to the poles and other infrastructure which need to be replaced prior to getting the power back on for our members.”
In addition to all Lake Region crews working to repair services, the co-op has called Legacy Construction in for assistance with replacing broken poles and Carr’s Tree Service for assistance in clearing trees off of the lines. All told, more than 40 crew members are working to restore services as quickly and safely as possible.
RESCO has provided their “storm trailer” to Lake Region to provide the necessary materials for immediate deployment to the crews to get the system up again. “It’s during times like this that the cooperatives pull together to serve the members. I am extremely appreciative of all of the assistance that we are being provided from our cooperative family,” said Tim Thompson, CEO of Lake Region, “and I’m very proud of the efforts that our linemen, dispatchers, and customer service teams are putting forward to get the power back on.”
December 26, 2016//4:54 pm
The power transformer in the Erhard Substation failed yesterday evening and the co-op's portable substation was installed to restore power. Today, crews have been working to overcome technical difficulties between the portable sub and existing system protection relay system.
Crews say to expect power to be restored and interrupted a couple of times before final restoration about 8:00 PM.
We understand the inconvenience, particularly during the holidays, and sincerely appreciate your patience. Prayers going out to the crews as they work toward a successful restoration.
December 25, 2016//11:41 pm
Crews continue to work on the Erhard Substation and the latest estimate to restore power is about 2:41 AM. Other crews continue to work on outages throughout our service territory. We appreciate your patience as they work safely to restore power.
November 8, 2016//5:57 PM
The source of the outage Tuesday evening was an issue at the bulk transmission substation located at Frazee. It affected the following LREC substations: Frazee, Dora, Dent, Perham, Burlington, Evergreen & Butler.
AUGUST 4, 2016 // 8:15 PM
There are still some members without power but outage restoration continues. We are estimating power to be restored around 5:00 p.m. Go to our Outage Map at http://outagemap.lrec.coop/ for outage information.
August 4, 2016 // 8:15 AM
Crews have been working since early morning to restore scattered outages from the storms. Broken poles and downed wires are reported in the Northeastern and Southeastern part of our service area. We hope to have outages restored by early afternoon.
IMPORTANT: Stay away from downed lines and report dangerous situations. If your power is off, call 800-552-7658 to report your outage.