Published: October 05, 2009 08:19 pm      

Bluford hit by power outage

By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

BLUFORD — More than 500 AmerenIP customers experienced a power outage on Monday that resulted in schools and business closings in the village.

According to information from Lee Morris of AmerenIP, the outage started at 6:50 a.m. on Monday morning, and power was restored at about 1:35 p.m. The outage also affected Tri-County Electric customers in the area for about an hour as the power cooperative transferred service to substations not affected by the AmerenIP outage.

Morris said the outage was due to an insulator which failed at the Bluford (Marlow) Substation.

“Its at the end of the line,” Morris explained. “There was no other way to provide electricity for those on the line through any other means than that line. We often have other directions we can route power to restore service, but when a substation is at the end of a transmission line, there isn’t, such as in this instance.”

According to information from AmerenIP, electricity travels from the power plant over high-voltage transmission lines to a substation, where the electricity’s voltage is lowered so it can travel over the distribution system through main lines and secondary lines to homes and businesses. Monday, an insulator at the substation failed, causing the outage.

The AmerenIP transmission lines also provide electricity that is purchased by Tri-County Electric Cooperative, but because the cooperative lines continue, the cooperative members’ service was re-routed to other areas and service restored in about an hour, according to the cooperative.

According to information from Hamilton-Jefferson County Regional Superintendent of Schools Bryan Cross, classes at Bluford Grade School, Webber Township High School and the ROE Pre-Kindergarten site were canceled on Monday due to the outage.