A power outage affected a large stretch of Santa Fe's east side and southeastern edge Friday night, cutting electricity to about 6,200 households at its peak, with most service restored around 10:15 p.m. after it was first reported before 7 p.m. Utility officials still had not settled on a cause.
The scope of the blackout and the timeline for restoring it were detailed by the Santa Fe New Mexican, which reported that about 6,200 households were affected according to the electric utility. Even after most homes had their lights back on, 95 customers were still expected to have power restored after midnight, the paper reported.
What Caused the Outage Remains Unclear
Exactly what triggered the outage is still murky, and the available accounts do not agree. The newspaper's reporting noted that the company's website listed the cause as equipment problems, while PNM spokesperson Kai Porter told the paper that the cause was still under investigation. Porter also said being without power for any amount of time is frustrating, acknowledging the disruption to households across the city.
Separately, KOAT reported that PNM had estimated power would be restored by 10:23 p.m., a projection that lined up roughly with the broader restoration window described in the New Mexican's account.
Outage Spread Beyond the East Side
Beyond the main affected zone on the east side and southeastern edge, a Santa Fe neighborhood near Rodeo Road and Richards Avenue was also experiencing its own outage, according to the New Mexican. Smaller outages affected a handful of customers southeast of the city near Cañoncito and Cañada de los Alamos, as well as a handful of customers southwest of Santa Fe near the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Porter encouraged customers to visit PNM's outage map to monitor developments as crews worked through the overlapping incidents. The scattered nature of the outages, hitting several corners of the city at once, made for a messier night than a single, contained blackout would have produced.
A Pattern of Rising Outage Times
Friday's outage lands amid a broader trend the utility itself has acknowledged. PNM customers experienced an average cumulative outage time of about 4.6 hours in 2024, more than double the 1.8 hours recorded the year before, according to Yahoo News. Even when excluding major event days, the average cumulative outage time per customer was 124 minutes in 2024, compared with roughly 1.5 hours in 2023, per the same report.
Company vice president Omni Warner has said PNM counted six major event days in 2024, the highest number the utility has ever recorded in a single year. The outlet's reporting also noted that equipment failures, including cable faults, caused about 44% of PNM's outages that year, while the utility still reported overall system reliability of 99.85%, a figure described as lower than in recent years but above nationwide averages.
PNM has previously pointed to trees, equipment failure and lightning as the biggest contributors to lengthening outage times in recent years, the New Mexican reported in earlier coverage. The utility told the paper that its customers saw an increase in outages during the summer of 2024, which it attributed to more severe weather across the state. Santa Fe has seen several large-scale blackouts in that stretch, including a June 2024 outage that knocked out power for more than 10,000 customers and a July 2024 event that affected more than 26,000 customers, both attributed to lightning strikes, according to the New Mexican's reporting.
