Minden Residents Affected by Power Outages as NV Energy Addresses Issues

Genoa, Nev. — NV Energy has apologized to residents of Douglas County following a series of power outages affecting thousands. The company acknowledged the inconvenience caused by these outages in an email sent to community members on May 12.

Residents have faced multiple power interruptions in recent weeks, with a significant outage on Sunday morning that impacted 11,595 customers in Carson Valley. This accounted for around half of NV Energy’s customers in the area.

The cause of Sunday’s outage was attributed to birds contacting equipment at the Buckeye substation. Despite having no prior reports of wildlife-related outages, a spokeswoman noted that birds also contributed to a previous outage last year affecting 14,384 customers.

NV Energy has committed to implementing measures to prevent similar issues in the future. The past few months have seen significant disruptions, including a March 5 outage that left 26,700 customers without power across the county, and another outage on May 12 linked to a powerful windstorm that struck Carson Valley.

The windstorm created conditions that caused a transformer above the Minden Post Office to blow. “The adverse weather caused a wire to come loose on a transmission line serving the area,” NV Energy stated. They confirmed that crews worked diligently to isolate the damage and restore power, assuring residents that no similar outages are anticipated.

In addition to these issues, ongoing work has resulted in further outages on May 24 and June 1 due to a transmission line tripping. This was described by the company as a precautionary measure under their Natural Disaster Protection Plan, aimed at mitigating fire risks.

Another incident on June 5 saw a distribution line trip due to a broken wire during thunderstorms. Though most customers had their service restored swiftly, others had to wait for repairs.