WPS: More than 100,000 customers to have power restored by end of Thursday (2024)

WPS expects to restore power to most customers Thursday

Published: Apr. 4, 2024 at 6:26 AM CDT|Updated: Apr. 4, 2024 at 5:40 PM CDT

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. (WBAY) - As of Thursday afternoon, Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) said crews have restored power to more than 80,000 customers affected by the storm. WPS expects 97% of impacted customers will have power restored by the end of Friday, with the rest restored, or a crew assigned, by Saturday.

WPS has said that they are currently on the scene of an outage event near Burns Ave. and Bentwood Drive in Green Bay where a large tree fell and hit powerlines. The crews helped remove the tree and reopen travel around that area. Customers affected by this particular outage have had their power restored as of 5:40 p.m., according to a WEC Energy Group statement.

At around 9 a.m. Thursday, We Energies posted that crews have restored power to 80,000 customers, expecting 95% of impacted customers to have power restored Thursday.

Earlier, at 8:30 a.m., Wisconsin Public Service reported 44,582 customers in its service area didn’t have electricity. We Energies still needed to restore power to 16,000 customers. Together the utilities are working on more than 1,800 individual outage point

A substation on French Rd. in Grand Chute is one example of the problem. We Energies says it needs a specialized crew to fix equipment damaged by snow and ice driven by 40 and 50-mile-per-hour wind gusts.

Some of the hardest hit still are Brown County, with nearly 11,000 homes and businesses in the dark overnight; Door County, with more than 9,000 without power; and Marinette County, where more than 10,000 customers are waiting.

Around the area, Action 2 News found traffic lights out of order. A small grocery store losing food because of warm freezers. A lodge opening its rooms to neighbors who don’t have heat.

Kenneth Pollock of Sturgeon Bay took up the Lodge at Leathem Smith on its offer. “We didn’t have heat. Hot water was minimal while it lasted. We were just kind of waiting for it to come back on because it’s never been out for quite a long time. We’ve been in the house for almost 20 years,” he said.

A spokesperson for WPS says he expects power to come back for most families before the end of the day Thursday.

WPS has an army of field crews, it says, including more than 300 technicians from across Wisconsin and the Midwest working non-stop on this restoration effort. These crews are repairing significant damage from the storm, including more than 1,500 reports of damaged utility poles, downed power lines, and large trees and tree limbs falling onto electric equipment.

“During large storm and restoration events such as this, our crews will remove trees and other hazards from private property as part of our ongoing commitment to safety,” said WEC Energy Group senior communication specialist Matt Cullen in a statement. “Customers who see trees that have fallen onto electric equipment should contact us immediately so we can send specialized forestry crews to safely remove the tree, whether it is on private or public property.”

WPS customers can get the latest information on the estimated time of restoration for their outage on the WPS outage map online.

He says there’s an army of field crews and hundreds of extra workers brought in from around the Midwest to fix this as soon as possible. Crews are finding thousands of damaged utility poles in addition to the power lines brought down by heavy snow, wind, and fallen trees and branches.

WPS says as of 8:30 Wednesday night it was been able to turn the lights back on for more than 110,000 homes.

The Shawano County Sheriff’s Office and American Red Cross opened a warming shelter at Shawano Middle School, 1050 S. Union St.

The City of Appleton says the charging station at Scheig Center is unavailable, if you rely on medical devices or if you’re using devices to stay informed. The city apologizes for the inconvenience.

The Appleton Public Library is open for normal business hours, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., at its temporary location at 3000 E. College Ave., the old Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

Valley Transit is also open on E. Washington St. in Appleton.

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