News Update: Maple Grove Readers React to Recent Power Outages

A power outage that initially left more than 5,000 Xcel Energy customers without electricity for more than six hours Sept. 18 had several Maple Grove residents asking for answers.

During the timeframe of approximately 2-9 p.m. Sept. 18, there were varying reports of outages and whether it was due to one related incident. Most of the reports were centralized in the northwest Maple Grove area and surrounding communities.

In the comments section of a post on Patch during the Sept. 18 power outage, some users wrote:

Don  - Yuma CT South of Weaver Lake School out since 12:10. Everyone needs to call excel and file an excessive outage report (6 time in a year.) Have been out 8 times since March. Xcel needs to replace its substandard equipment (underground and switching)

Via email:  Our power in the neighborhood goes out 2 to 3 times per month. There's something larger wrong. They just fix it each time and we're without power for 2 to 3 hours each time. The longest outage this summer was about 7 hours. Hard to believe we're fairly new neighborhoods with buried service. We lose power all the time.

Chad -  The outages in this area have been far too frequent given the young age of the electrical infrastructure. Seems like poor capacity planning on Xcel's part, or poor installation work. Either way, they need to address the problem.

Joyce - We live in the area between Rainbow and Church of the Open Door. Power went out at noon and was not restored until 8:00 p.m. This was the eighth outage since March, none of them are short, somewhere between three and seven hours. We have lived in our home for ten years and the outages here are excessive. I filed a complaint via mobile phone last night to Xcel.

Xcel Energy responds

The approximately 5,100 Xcel customers without power in the northwest Maple Grove area and surrounding communities Sept. 18, 2012 were all related to an underground feeder cable failure,” according to Xcel Senior Media Relations Representative Patti Nystuen.

“The outage on Sept. 18 involved cable failure and the feeder was restored in sections, so all customers were not out the entire time,” Nystuen wrote in an email to Patch. “We will be watching this feeder closely and will make sure any issues are addressed immediately.”

Responding to previous power outages in the northwest Maple Grove area, Nystuen provided the following list of causes:

Three momentary outages in the area, lasting “just a few seconds” on May 5 (cause unknown), May 15 (public/vehicle damage) and June 10 (lightning). There were also two “sustained” outages on June 10 (lightning) and Sept. 18 (underground feeder cable failure).

For an account of the Sept. 18 power outage incident, including resident comments, click here:

Other power outage incidents in 2012 reported by Maple Grove Patch (Xcel Energy and Wright Hennepin) include:

January 18: Power Outage Temporarily Shuts Down Elm Creek Park Reserve Winter Recreation Area

February 29: 

March 19:

June 6:

Follow us on Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Sign up for our daily newsletter

Have something to say about power outages? Share your thoughts in comments.