Winfield’s electric utility scrambled to fire up generators and cut back on power usage early Wednesday when the city experienced a sudden drop in power from a key supplier.
A local Rubbermaid plant and the city’s electric customers in Udall ? and other customers served by lines running to Udall ? were without power for a time as a result of the drop. The incident occurred around midnight.
A local employee, Brett Johnson, was credited with detecting the loss of supply locally and initiating a plan to generate power. The city staffs the power plant 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Bob Porter ? who oversees Winfield’s electric utility ? said the city was informed by Westar Energy that a lightening strike had caused a loss of power to a substation in the Westar system.
Westar asked the city to cut its power consumption by about a third while the problem was being addressed. The city, by contract, can cut back power to Rubbermaid and Udall during an emergency situation ? and did that when the dip in power first occurred.
The city also fired up a gas turbine and two diesel generators to compensate for the loss of power. Service in Udall was cut at 12:50 a.m and restored by 1:25 a.m.
Service at Rubbermaid was cut at 12:39 a.m. and restored by 2:15 a.m.
Westar asked that the city continue to keep all of its generation ready throughout the day to carry Winfield’s power load, if necessary. Weather makes this important because temperatures near 100 degrees statewide are taxing for electric utilities, Porter said.
Westar plans to repair the substation damage at 2 a.m. Thursday, when power usage is usually at its lowest for the day. The city is in contact with Westar officials each hour to monitor usage.
The city will generate all power for its customers while the repairs takes place, Porter said. That should take about three to four hours.
Porter expects that local customers will experience a seamless transition from Westar power to city power.
The city owns its electric utility but mostly purchases power from other entities because its cheaper than generating locally, officials have said in the past.
