Power outages (Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler: power lines, houses, utilities)

[EugeneBKLYN]

Are power outages common in the Phoenix area during the summer?

[Ponderosa]

Not like they used to be. There are a lot more underground utilities now and steel poles in place of the wooded ones that would be blown over in monsoon storms. Most outages are for a few minutes when lightening hits a transformer or sub-station, but some last for a day or more if lines are blown down.

[twiggy]

I have only experienced 4 outages in the last 12 yrs. 3 due to storms, one a car ran into something like a transformer. I live in Chandler. My Mother gets more, she lives in North Phx. The storms seem to hit harder out there and in Mesa. Not enough to worry about.

[Magnum Mike]

There are two utility companies in Arizona, Salt River Project and Arizona Public Service. For some reason, power outages, although rare, seem to occur more often with APS customers. I'm with SRP and the only time power outages occur, as twiggy mentioned, is when somebody runs into a transformer or when lightning hits them, or exposed power lines.

Also, all newer areas have utility lines burried underground, so you won't see those old ugly power lines and wooden poles.

[63ragtop]

When I worked down near the Phoenix airport, our building would lose power a couple times every summer. Sometimes it came back on in 5-10 minutes, sometimes we just left after hearing it would take a few hours.

At my house we usually lose power for a few seconds a few times per summer. Just enough to have to reset all the clocks.

[sablebaby]

I usually experience maybe one power outage a year. We had one late last year, but it was only like 8 houses on our street. A conductor went out. But during storms it happens about once a year.

[EugeneBKLYN]

I would think that it goes out every now and then because of the sheer amount of power use during those 110 days...

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by EugeneBKLYN

I would think that it goes out every now and then because of the sheer amount of power use during those 110 days...

No, we are well-supplied with power.

[twiggy]

This is for Surprise AZ ( about 30 min. from Phoenix downtown. It's the same for most cities in and around Phx. These are tips for help in blackouts from monsoons or rollingblackouts caused purposely by the electric company when demand can exceed supply. Which we do have here in Arizona! While we have plenty of stations here, a lot of the power they generate goes to other states. It's not that bad though, just part of this heat I guess. They usually only last about an hour or two and exclude Hospitals and large commercial buildings. Hope this helps!Official Website - Surprise, Arizona (http://www.surpriseaz.com/index.asp?NID=429#RollingBlackouts - broken link)

[wit-nit]

Major valley outages utages usually occur during the 'monsoon' season. Other times only when someone hits a utility pole and that is only a local outage.