Saturday's brutal heat-and-storm combination knocked out electricity for nearly 17,000 El Paso Electric customers across the region, turning a punishing weather weekend into a widespread service headache. By late afternoon, the outages were spread across dozens of separate incidents.
At 4:46 p.m. Saturday, El Paso Electric's outage map showed 70 outages affecting more than 16,000 customers, according to KFOX14/CBS4. An El Paso Electric spokesperson told the station the outages appeared to be weather-related.
Heat And Storms Put Pressure On The Grid
El Paso Electric says hot-weather demand can overload lines, transformers and other equipment, while thunderstorms remain the leading cause of customer outages on its system, according to the utility's summer outage guidance. Lightning and sudden wind bursts can damage equipment even as air conditioners push electricity demand higher.
The latest disruption followed a rough Friday in the Borderland, when El Paso reached 108 degrees before storms brought rain, dust and lightning. In an earlier report, KFOX14/CBS4 reported that heat and storm impacts had already produced multiple outages and prompted El Paso Electric to deploy available crews.
Another Large Outage Event Hit The Borderland In July
This is not the first time this summer that a storm-related outage has reached five-figure territory. On July 5, more than 11,000 customers were without power across 83 outages, according to KVIA.
The pattern also echoes a May outage in northeast El Paso that cut power to roughly 2,600 customers and affected traffic signals during the morning commute, as Hoodline previously reported. Customers experiencing an outage in Texas can report it to El Paso Electric at (915) 877-3400 and check restoration information through the utility's outage map.
