KILLEEN, Texas (KXXV) — Imagine the power going out over and over again in the Texas heat.
A lot of things could run through your mind like, "How long will my food last in the fridge?" or, "What will my family do if the A/C doesn’t come back soon?"
That’s the reality for some neighbors in Killeen who reached out to 25 News looking for answers.
Connie Schied says her and her husband have been experiencing power outages a lot recently even on nice beautiful days and they can even hear a transformer blow when it happens.
"These outages are repaired like in two and a half or three hours, you know, we call them, they know about it," Schied said.
"Sometimes they’ll tell us how many homes it affects… and then they let us know about when it’s going to be repaired and they’re been pretty much on the money.”
They have experienced around half a dozen power outages over the last week and a half or two weeks.
Tuesday’s outage lasted six hours — she told me other neighbors also have power outages.
“We’re pretty much in a hot box when we do lose it," she said.
Connie reached out to us looking for answers and I took her questions to her providers Oncor and TXU.
TXU directed comments to Oncor — a representative with Oncor told me they are working to answer the questions I sent to them on Wednesday.
Connie wonders if overgrown vegetation on power poles and power lines or a nearby transformer which appears to be rusty could be causing the outages.
While we wait for answers, Will Brannen, Electrical Service Manager for ABC Home & Commercial Services, which provides services to our Central Texas neighbors, said overgrown weeds, trees, wind, heat, and even animals could play a role in an outage but wants people to remember the source of the outage could be close or far away from your home however a transformer’s rusty shell is likely not the cause.
"It doesn’t necessarily affect the performance of the machine.”
When utility companies do know what causes the outage, Connie said she just wants to know too, and added, “Tell us what you found just tell us what it is.”
Will really wants you to be safe and encourages people to contact their utility providers if they have overgrown vegetation near power lines and power poles close to their homes.
Once we hear back from Oncor, we will post it to this story.
