Alliant Energy said that the power outages in Mount Vernon Friday, Jan. 19, and Wednesday, Jan. 24, both occurred due to equipment issues.
“Crews responded to make repairs to the equipment and restore service to customers as quickly and safely as possible,” said Morgan Hawk, senior communications partner with Alliant Energy.
The Friday, Jan. 19, power outage impacted Mount Vernon High School, closing the school in the middle of seventh hour and relocating many evening and weekend activities as crews worked on fixing the issue. No one was injured, and the small electrical fire was put out immediately upon discovery.
Wednesday, Jan. 24’s outage was caused by a transformer failing in the uptown Mount Vernon business area. That caused outages for a number of businesses in uptown Mount Vernon for two to three hours Wednesday evening until lines were repaired.
Mount Vernon United Methodist Church trustees discovered a pump on one of their boilers was smoking following the power outage, but the issue was thwarted before it became a larger fire. Church members attended the service in a colder than usual church Sunday morning.
Hawk said lines and equipment are inspected in all the communities Alliant serves, including Mount Vernon and Lisbon.
“Crews are continuously evaluating lines, transformers and other equipment and looking for potential issues that could impact customers,” Hawk said. “We also closely monitor all weather conditions and any storms that may impact service to customers.”
If residents encounter any downed power lines, they should avoid them and give Alliant a call with any power outages.
“Crews are always prepared to respond to any potential outages,” Hawk said.
Alliant Energy have a proposed rate adjustments that is coming up, which Hawk said reflects the company’s ongoing commitment to delivering reliable, resilient and secure energy to our customers and the communities we serve.
The rate adjustment includes investments to modernize and strengthen the energy grid.
“For example, we are continuing to move power lines from overhead to underground to reduce outages and improve safety,” Hawk said. “As we put more lines underground, the number of outages decrease and the length of outages gets shorter. To date, approximately 34 percent of our lines in Mount Vernon are underground and approximately 25 percent of our lines In Lisbon are underground.”
The adjustment also includes investments to upgrade infrastructure in all communities.
“Replacing aging infrastructure will enhance and strengthen our energy system,” Hawk said.