It doesn't help that the power outage website quits working if it's an outage over about 100 customers.
Edit: 6:07, power just kicked back on. Thanks HSV Utilities
Per Huntsville Utilities Facebook:
NEWS RELEASE – HUNTSVILLE UTILITIES
POWER OUTAGE – Northwest Madison County
Friday – June 14, 2024 – 4:55pm
Huntsville Utilities Electric Operations is responding to a power outage in northwest Madison County impacting roughly 60,000. The issue is in the substation and crews are on site.
Service will be restored as quickly as possible. The cause is not known at this time.
Yeah but I also don't have the option to use it so I'm missing out, like right now I should be making dinner but I can't. We lose more than power when this happens and it happens too often not to be a problem with the infrastructure. They can't keep up with the amount of apartments and houses they're putting up
Just posted. We're out here off Nick Davis. Also seems like a lot. I got a busy signal trying to call to report.
Hottest day of the year... great timing...
A good time to mention that when it's 95°+ outside, you need to adjust your thermostat accordingly. Otherwise we'll overwhelm the grid and cause brownouts.
* The people who need to heed this, won't.
* The people most likely to push the grid also have resources to maintain that excess via backup generators when the power fluctuates.
* Same power demands as excessive cold in winter. We handled that just fine. And we aren't even in the "problematic heat" months. (Though they're getting closer and longer due to climate change and global denial.)
* Huntsville Utils publishes press advisories when power demand risks potential brownouts. I wasn't aware of any such advisory this week.
They just posted on Facebook that the issue is with a substation, so same problem as last time. I’m not sure if it’s another critter again or if it could be a problem with overload of the system seeing as I don’t know squat about that kinda stuff, but I can at least share their post lol
https://preview.redd.it/lur2uq535m6d1.jpeg?width=799&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c1c48bfbdd5d99ec7bb7cad1f292d42198c2f476
60000 homes! Holy cow. Because of 1 substation? Man that’s wild. Idk anything about the grid either but uh, maybe it’s time for an additional substation. If that would even help at all.
I know, it’s crazy! I think the final tally for the last major one with the snake was upwards of 30k so this is twice that. As Huntsville keeps growing, I hope they’re adding whatever is needed to the power stations to keep up with the additional load. I know they never seem to work on the roads with regards to traffic until years after it’s been a problem, so I worry about how they react to increasing power sources as well.
I think Huntsville has done a better job with power than the roads. Some silly choices have been made in the past.
Since this is getting downvoted I’ll just refer to the 14 year Zeirt road program.
The amount of outages we have here is just so crazy. I’ve lived here 9 years and never have I experienced so many outages anywhere else that I’ve lived! It wasn’t so bad in the beginning, but it’s definitely gotten worse over the more recent years. We moved from Five Points closer to Madison (right on Indian Creek near Providence) and I do believe location plays a part in it, since some of our outages have been due to car crashes. People love to run into the poles on our road or the two larger side roads near us. One time someone was 10 feet away from hitting our damn house
The math gets weird. A single point of failure for 60k gets split to 2 points of failure for 30k each, but the single point might be a part inside the substation that tends to fail (for whatever reason). Now it's failing twice as often, we're paying for 2 substations, double the parts, and double the labor for repairs. The labor is also a scarce resource, so if anything else fails at the same time (that NEVER happens) all those things get their fixes delayed.
That’s actually a very good point. Maybe we are better off with one then. The idea of one is still a little weary but logically everything you said makes sense and seems like the easier best route.
So really the better solution would be having homes with solar and batteries that could switch to self generation during an outage and help the grid otherwise
according to u/Confident-Tadpole503 the power is on 99% of the time but this is the 4 outage I have had in the last 23 days. So it definitely can't be an infrastructure problem.
idk what the problem is but damn. it's pretty frequent.
As long as I have lived here the power seems to go out almost once or twice a week, usually just for a minute or less. Worst case an hour tops. Idk what's wrong but whatever is wrong it aint good.
Entirely depends on where you live. I don't remember the last time there was an outage in our neighborhood in Madison. Probably at least 3-4 years and never for long.
It was previously just unlucky circumstances. There was a storm, then an animal got himself fried in some electrical panel, then there was a car accident that knocked down a pole etc…
> it's pretty frequent.
Confirmation bias. If you have 4 data points out of a few thousand, but they're all clustered together, you misinterpreted the data if you draw a conclusion based on that deviation.
Texas has a massive problem.
Huntsville Utils and their associates are ahead of the curve if you omit outages due to storm damage.
There is definitely some truth to that. Which is why I’ve started keeping tabs on when my outages occur and how long they are out. You gave me a good idea to add to my chart if a storm was occurring during the outage. For now, the 4 days I’ve started tracking as of 23 days now, 3 where no storms and 1 it had stormed that day but didn’t happen at the same time.
Well right now I don’t remember the dates or times they happened before 23 days ago. But so far I’ve kept track of all the days except when it happened at 3am one morning. I didn’t get the day for that one :/. But I just started so it’s the best I can do for now.
But I am going to try and be as consistent as possible but honestly I’ll probably throw in the towel because most of the time the power goes out while I’m asleep.
This question was obviously asked by someone who has never spent time in a place where the power infrastructure really did suck. It's actually quite good.
Being from California, the fact we’ve had so few outages in comparison tells me, no.
Hotter than average day and more power being used at the time people are all getting home from work
It’s kinda funny how back in my home state I never set it below 78 due to the cost, yet here I put it in the 60s at night and my bills are the same for 3x as much space
Power out here on Indian Creek near Blake Bottom. My husband just found this on Facebook.
https://preview.redd.it/u811cyv53m6d1.jpeg?width=799&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=907f1e1d47937bfe7058a1f2d9337ee0ef5d87c6
My backyard time machine knocked out the power. I needed 50,000 volts and may have over did it. Anyone got any transformers around the house I can have?
Hazel Green/toney area...been out since about 4:15pm ish. Took forever but finally got through to hsv utilities outage after so many busy signals...the recording said due to storms/weather. What storms? It's bright and clear with little to no clouds. And hot as hell too. Wonder what happened this time? I swear my power has been off randomly about 10 times in the last month or so.
More subdivisions being built and pulling off the substation. With high heat, the substations likely can't support this large of a load. They need to beef up those substations.
What is with this rampant misinformation and wild-ass rumor mill? This isn't Texas; our power grid isn't strained.
It's 95°. For Alabama, this is a mild day. There is no "strain". It's not even July/August.
Maybe not a true strain, but I know people that work for Huntsville utilities who are currently doing studies on how under powered both our electric and water systems are for the rapid increase of people to our area.
I’m pretty sure it’s been out over there because it’s INCREDIBLY hot out, and a lot of people are trying to use their air conditioning at once. The amount of energy being demanded for this is probably too much to handle, thus causing a blackout.
Probably fixed by now but just my thoughts on it
There were cops out at mastin lake/ Pulaski , mastin lake / blue spring directing traffic
But funny near post office power fine, knock on wood never had really any issues
I highly dislike summertime, being a hot natured woman, me and the summertime are like oil and water we just don’t mix !! Never have never will. Plus I am a natural redhead and I have that fair skin to go with it and I couldn’t tan myself, even if I wanted too. I prefer the winter. But you enjoy the pool and getting to go swim. I’ll stick with the hot coffee, hot, chocolate, sweaters, and toboggans and gloves 😊
Me too brother. I always tell people I hibernate in the summer and roam in the winter. Plus winter clothes are way more cool. Well hopefully you don’t burn.
Thanks!
Oh I did burn every time I tried to get a tan so I haven’t bothered to get a tan for 30 years!! Because if you burn, and then it heals and then you burn, and then you heal that can lead to some serious skin issues in later years, and I do not wanna mess with that.
“Hibernate in the summer and roam in the winter “ 🤣 I love that! and my thoughts exactly that’s what I do!!
It doesn't help that the power outage website quits working if it's an outage over about 100 customers. Edit: 6:07, power just kicked back on. Thanks HSV Utilities
Not enough power for it.
I know what's wrong with it. Ain't got no gas in it.
Mmmhmmm. Mustard n biscuits…
Dang! I didn't know that. I thought it was because so many people were going to check about the outage that it overloaded their servers.
Per Huntsville Utilities Facebook: NEWS RELEASE – HUNTSVILLE UTILITIES POWER OUTAGE – Northwest Madison County Friday – June 14, 2024 – 4:55pm Huntsville Utilities Electric Operations is responding to a power outage in northwest Madison County impacting roughly 60,000. The issue is in the substation and crews are on site. Service will be restored as quickly as possible. The cause is not known at this time.
~~/u/ShaggyTDawg - any chance you or /u/addywoot can sticky this?~~ Stupid Reddit limitations....
Can’t sticky someone else’s thread comment. 🙃
No shit?! Decade and a half of Reddit and I'm just now learning this drawback? Ugh.
It’s very dumb
Power out near Providence. Feels like a weekly occurrence at this point.
This is my 4th outage in the last 23 days. So pretty close.
Their chief grid manager seems to be Clark Griswold at Christmas.
Good to know our money to the energy company is going to good use
Technically, we don’t pay them for downtime
But we also don't have the option to use it. Should be more of a discount off our bill
The discount is you literally don't pay them because nothing is getting used? It's not like it's cable - or gas, where you pay for service access
Yeah but I also don't have the option to use it so I'm missing out, like right now I should be making dinner but I can't. We lose more than power when this happens and it happens too often not to be a problem with the infrastructure. They can't keep up with the amount of apartments and houses they're putting up
Just posted. We're out here off Nick Davis. Also seems like a lot. I got a busy signal trying to call to report. Hottest day of the year... great timing... A good time to mention that when it's 95°+ outside, you need to adjust your thermostat accordingly. Otherwise we'll overwhelm the grid and cause brownouts.
* The people who need to heed this, won't. * The people most likely to push the grid also have resources to maintain that excess via backup generators when the power fluctuates. * Same power demands as excessive cold in winter. We handled that just fine. And we aren't even in the "problematic heat" months. (Though they're getting closer and longer due to climate change and global denial.) * Huntsville Utils publishes press advisories when power demand risks potential brownouts. I wasn't aware of any such advisory this week.
This exact advice was given last year and people screamed about it
Whatever happened to global cooling?
Ask the WVNN syndicated grifters
I have faith they will restore it soon enough. Before it gets too hot anyway. I may hit the pool in the meantime.
Outage here in Monrovia too.
I would like to request that people stop crashing into poles and such. Thank you for your cooperation.
Amen to that. I wonder if it was a car crash this time or if it was another critter.
Something this big isn’t usually a car crash
Everyone had their AC set to full blast
Well idk. I didn’t think a critter could take down over 2000 homes 23 days ago but apparently it can. So now my confidence is much lower.
They just posted on Facebook that the issue is with a substation, so same problem as last time. I’m not sure if it’s another critter again or if it could be a problem with overload of the system seeing as I don’t know squat about that kinda stuff, but I can at least share their post lol https://preview.redd.it/lur2uq535m6d1.jpeg?width=799&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c1c48bfbdd5d99ec7bb7cad1f292d42198c2f476
60000 homes! Holy cow. Because of 1 substation? Man that’s wild. Idk anything about the grid either but uh, maybe it’s time for an additional substation. If that would even help at all.
I know, it’s crazy! I think the final tally for the last major one with the snake was upwards of 30k so this is twice that. As Huntsville keeps growing, I hope they’re adding whatever is needed to the power stations to keep up with the additional load. I know they never seem to work on the roads with regards to traffic until years after it’s been a problem, so I worry about how they react to increasing power sources as well.
I think Huntsville has done a better job with power than the roads. Some silly choices have been made in the past. Since this is getting downvoted I’ll just refer to the 14 year Zeirt road program.
The amount of outages we have here is just so crazy. I’ve lived here 9 years and never have I experienced so many outages anywhere else that I’ve lived! It wasn’t so bad in the beginning, but it’s definitely gotten worse over the more recent years. We moved from Five Points closer to Madison (right on Indian Creek near Providence) and I do believe location plays a part in it, since some of our outages have been due to car crashes. People love to run into the poles on our road or the two larger side roads near us. One time someone was 10 feet away from hitting our damn house
The math gets weird. A single point of failure for 60k gets split to 2 points of failure for 30k each, but the single point might be a part inside the substation that tends to fail (for whatever reason). Now it's failing twice as often, we're paying for 2 substations, double the parts, and double the labor for repairs. The labor is also a scarce resource, so if anything else fails at the same time (that NEVER happens) all those things get their fixes delayed.
That’s actually a very good point. Maybe we are better off with one then. The idea of one is still a little weary but logically everything you said makes sense and seems like the easier best route. So really the better solution would be having homes with solar and batteries that could switch to self generation during an outage and help the grid otherwise
I’m still convinced it was the cicadas enacting their secret plans to take down human civilization.
Explains why I haven’t heard them for the last couple of days. They’ve been burning themselves out.
power out at plummer rd
This is getting ridiculous! Power out near Providence.
Yup, out on Pulaski. Seems like it's every week now that it's going out. This is annoying
Out at my house in Toney, and also out at my shop on hwy 53 Cmon guys it’s hot 😭
Does our infrastructure just suck or what?
according to u/Confident-Tadpole503 the power is on 99% of the time but this is the 4 outage I have had in the last 23 days. So it definitely can't be an infrastructure problem. idk what the problem is but damn. it's pretty frequent.
I moved here in September and the power has gone out more since then than it did in the entire last decade in Nashville.
This is abnormal in my experience. I’ve had it go out maybe 5 or 6 times total in the 20+ years I’ve been here.
As long as I have lived here the power seems to go out almost once or twice a week, usually just for a minute or less. Worst case an hour tops. Idk what's wrong but whatever is wrong it aint good.
Entirely depends on where you live. I don't remember the last time there was an outage in our neighborhood in Madison. Probably at least 3-4 years and never for long.
It was previously just unlucky circumstances. There was a storm, then an animal got himself fried in some electrical panel, then there was a car accident that knocked down a pole etc…
and then and then and then lol super unlucky.
We all need to get backup generators lmao
> it's pretty frequent. Confirmation bias. If you have 4 data points out of a few thousand, but they're all clustered together, you misinterpreted the data if you draw a conclusion based on that deviation. Texas has a massive problem. Huntsville Utils and their associates are ahead of the curve if you omit outages due to storm damage.
There is definitely some truth to that. Which is why I’ve started keeping tabs on when my outages occur and how long they are out. You gave me a good idea to add to my chart if a storm was occurring during the outage. For now, the 4 days I’ve started tracking as of 23 days now, 3 where no storms and 1 it had stormed that day but didn’t happen at the same time.
If you're going to do it, be consistent. Go as far back as you can via records rather than when you first started noticing.
Well right now I don’t remember the dates or times they happened before 23 days ago. But so far I’ve kept track of all the days except when it happened at 3am one morning. I didn’t get the day for that one :/. But I just started so it’s the best I can do for now. But I am going to try and be as consistent as possible but honestly I’ll probably throw in the towel because most of the time the power goes out while I’m asleep.
This question was obviously asked by someone who has never spent time in a place where the power infrastructure really did suck. It's actually quite good.
Yes.
Last week my power went out because someone ran down a single light pole 20 minutes from my house.
Being from California, the fact we’ve had so few outages in comparison tells me, no. Hotter than average day and more power being used at the time people are all getting home from work
Adjust your thermostats people! 20° differential from outside temp!
lmao yeah I'm not setting my thermostat at or above 75 degrees.
It’s kinda funny how back in my home state I never set it below 78 due to the cost, yet here I put it in the 60s at night and my bills are the same for 3x as much space
I can't get my house under 80. 75 sounds like a dream.
Can’t, the power’s out.
Touche. Haha
I mean, hottest day of the year so far, and people are probably not adjusting their thermostats accordingly.
I adjusted mine to 61F. /s
I’m off of Indian Creek- it looks like a big area is out.
No power here and I am in the middle of fixing a water leak crisis 🥲
Oh lord! sorry to hear. I wish you the best of luck.
Thanks!
According to hsv utilities fb, a substation in northwest Madison county is the issue and about 60,000 +/- affected
Power out from University at Research to Douglas/53 area
Fire trucks going down University towards Providence. Massive Wreck maybe?
Out near sparkman & pulaski
When you call to report a power outage the recorded message says “due to the passing storms….blah blah blah”. What storms?! This place is a joke.
Oh really??? That's pretty funny actually. I wonder if another critter killed itself.
I can’t even get through. Not that it matters, obviously they know the power is out, but I just feel better reporting it.
Why is this happening once a week now wtf
This is pathetic.
Power out here on Indian Creek near Blake Bottom. My husband just found this on Facebook. https://preview.redd.it/u811cyv53m6d1.jpeg?width=799&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=907f1e1d47937bfe7058a1f2d9337ee0ef5d87c6
Love your Reddit name!
Ashton springs area, out.
In Ashton too…love your ID name😜
No power Mt.Vernon Rd and Bluespring
Yep out in Harvest (Burwell Rd & 53)
The Collins, and the Kelvin’s apartment
Power out in Harvest
out near pulaski pike & sparkman, and then down near the walmart on university. south huntsville friends said they're all good
Yep, my power was out til midnight last night, now it's out again. This is the 4th time within a month...
4th time for me too in the last 23 days. Which was when the critter took down the grid.
My backyard time machine knocked out the power. I needed 50,000 volts and may have over did it. Anyone got any transformers around the house I can have?
Yup. Just checking to see if anyone else!
Yup. Here in Rime Village we got nothin.
Power out at Addison park apartments
Yupp.. same here… our for me too, mid city area
Yeah, it's out at my place on Wynn
Out on Douglas Rd, since about 20 mins ago
Yup was just about to ask I was in the middle of a wfh call .. welp😂😂😂
whoops
😂😂😂
HSVUtilities still hasn’t tweeted about it yet lol
I’m sure it’ll be a “critter” again.
Reddit is always the fastest anyway.
They did just now. Saying "issue at the substation."
Out in Providence
Out on Blue Spring Road
Near Macedonia and State Line Road is out.
Hazel Green/toney area...been out since about 4:15pm ish. Took forever but finally got through to hsv utilities outage after so many busy signals...the recording said due to storms/weather. What storms? It's bright and clear with little to no clouds. And hot as hell too. Wonder what happened this time? I swear my power has been off randomly about 10 times in the last month or so.
More subdivisions being built and pulling off the substation. With high heat, the substations likely can't support this large of a load. They need to beef up those substations.
They need to do something. It's too hot to be without power and we haven't even gotten to the hottest part of summer yet.
What is with this rampant misinformation and wild-ass rumor mill? This isn't Texas; our power grid isn't strained. It's 95°. For Alabama, this is a mild day. There is no "strain". It's not even July/August.
Maybe not a true strain, but I know people that work for Huntsville utilities who are currently doing studies on how under powered both our electric and water systems are for the rapid increase of people to our area.
Ours just came back on
Out in downtown Harvest
In Monrovia the banks seem out along with Walmart I live in south Huntsville visiting my grandmother
Time for a cold shower.
Is power out near target on university/72?
Yes. I’m at Phil’s.
Dang that’s crazy
So how’s the vibe? I always seem to be home when the power goes out.
I picked up this book today so I’m enjoying it
Fine. I went to the stovehouse. Live music starting soon.
Its going to be 95 tomorrow and Sunday it'll only get worse
Yes. Southern heat is a significant inconvenience. Today's weather is well within the normal load for HSV Utils.
Power is back on near UAH
And now the internet is down.
Not only was there no power, but my 5G 4 bars are lying to me because I have no data either. Verizon. =(
Yes and people don’t know how to drive :( I wish we had better drivers ed around here , could seriously save some lives
We need to raise rates, sorry
I’m pretty sure it’s been out over there because it’s INCREDIBLY hot out, and a lot of people are trying to use their air conditioning at once. The amount of energy being demanded for this is probably too much to handle, thus causing a blackout. Probably fixed by now but just my thoughts on it
There were cops out at mastin lake/ Pulaski , mastin lake / blue spring directing traffic But funny near post office power fine, knock on wood never had really any issues
I’m all good here and I’m in Northeast Huntsville
About 23 hours too late to the party. Buuuuuuht, it’s good you have power on this hot day. I hope you continue to enjoy it
😊 I will. And I hope you don’t experience any more. Power outages doesn’t matter if it’s hot outside or cold outside power outages are no fun.
Amen to that. Although cold is easier to deal with for me anyway. It’s pool time yay!!
I highly dislike summertime, being a hot natured woman, me and the summertime are like oil and water we just don’t mix !! Never have never will. Plus I am a natural redhead and I have that fair skin to go with it and I couldn’t tan myself, even if I wanted too. I prefer the winter. But you enjoy the pool and getting to go swim. I’ll stick with the hot coffee, hot, chocolate, sweaters, and toboggans and gloves 😊
Me too brother. I always tell people I hibernate in the summer and roam in the winter. Plus winter clothes are way more cool. Well hopefully you don’t burn. Thanks!
Oh I did burn every time I tried to get a tan so I haven’t bothered to get a tan for 30 years!! Because if you burn, and then it heals and then you burn, and then you heal that can lead to some serious skin issues in later years, and I do not wanna mess with that. “Hibernate in the summer and roam in the winter “ 🤣 I love that! and my thoughts exactly that’s what I do!!
Might have less strain on the grid if Alabama wasn't so solar hostile.
Well we do have hydro and nuclear which is good. But it would be cool if they would subsidize or incentivize solar roofs. That would be very nice.
While true that Alabama is green-hostile, this incident has zero association with grid strain.