SAN ANGELO, Texas, April. 11, 2011 – The Forestry Service has alerted AEP Texas to stand ready to de-energize the 138-kV line from Barrilla Junction to Alamito Creek as firefighters continue to battle wildfires near the line. As of 8:25 p.m. Monday evening, the order to de-energize had not been issued; however, if the situation becomes more serious, the order could be issued with little or no additional advance notice.  
 
The line serves customers in and around the Alpine, Fort Davis, Alamito Creek and Presidio areas.  The line also serves the Rio Grande Electric Coop.
    
Customers in the Presidio area may not see an impact due to the sodium-sulfur (NAS^®) battery and the ability to receive additional power from Comisiün Federal de Electricidad (CFE). 
 
If ordered to de-energize the line, service restoration is expected to occur from one to three hours later if fire does not damage the line.
 
As part of its own efforts to repair damage from the fire, AEP Texas took a section of the transmission line between the Barrilla Substation and the Rio Grande Electric Coop substation offline Monday evening.  Those repairs were completed that evening, and service was restored around 9:20 p.m.
    
To report an outage or downed power line, please call (866) 223-8508.  Please consider any downed power lines extremely dangerous. 
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