Moorhead warns public of potential electricity outages

Moorhead Public Service is warning customers about potential electric service interruptions throughout the summer.

MOORHEAD, Minn. (KVRR) – As temperatures get hotter, the City of Moorhead is asking the public to reduce energy usage in their homes to maintain stability of the electric grid.

“This is just a long-term planning communication effort just to get the information out there. Nothing is really going on. Currently, Southwest Power Pool has a resource advisory which is a lower level advisory going on this week. Other than that, there’s really not much going on. It’s just more preparing for the summer,” Moorhead Public Service General Manager Travis Schmidt said.

Schmidt says the energy company MISO is experiencing a slight shortage, but it shouldn’t affect anyone part of Southwest Power Pool.

“There’s actually two regional power grids in the area. Southwest Power Pool is in Moorhead and Cass County Electric and Xcel Energy are in the MISO group. Midwest Independent System Operator put out a release a couple weeks ago about their constraints and capacity that they’re gonna be short a certain amount of gigawatts of power,” Schmidt said.

He adds those who rely on life support and their caretakers will have to take extra steps to prepare for potential outages.

“Everybody needs electricity. If you have life support systems in your home, whether it’s oxygen tanks or some sort of medical equipment, make sure you have battery backups or you can have alternate locations to reside in case we’re going through rolling blackouts,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt says a good way to minimize your energy consumption is by turning your air conditioner to around 75 degrees.