Old lines cause electrical problems
By Jerry W. Kram
Portions of New Town lost power on Sept. 27 and Oct. 3. Power was returned after a few hours in both cases. Mountrail Williams Electrical Cooperative says it is working on improving the city’s infrastructure before winter sets in. A planned outage is scheduled for this Sunday to replace old power lines and transformers.
MWEC has been working on a plan to increase the reliability of electricity in New Town for the last two years. Last year saw the installation of new supply lines from Garrison Dam to the New Town area. This year, the emphasis has been on replacing poles, transformers and power lines in the city. MWEC Communications representative Jessica Martin said much of the infrastructure in New Town dates back to when the community was first built in the 1950s and 60s.
"There were a couple of different reasons for those unplanned outages," Martin said. "We are in the process of replacing those old lines because we have had quite a few problems with them. They haven’t been replaced in quite a few years. We are trying to get everything up to date to keep up with the influx in the area."
