Power outage planned for Sugar Mill Pond customers

Slemco announced a planned power outage for customers in Sugar Mill Pond on Wednesday, August 9.

Slemco said due to extended record-breaking heat and unprecedented electric load in the Sugar Mill Pond neighborhood, fuses in a fuse cabinet melted – resulting in two recent power outages.

The announcement by Slemo reads, "Fuse cabinets are used to sectionalize underground electric load serving your neighborhood which allows us to reduce the number of homes or businesses affected by individual outages. The two fuses that melted were our maximum-sized neighborhood fuses. Fuses this large have never melted before on our system. We are immediately replacing the affected fuse cabinet with a piece of equipment called a Vista. A Vista can accommodate higher capacity fuses and more electric load. We already have several Vistas working in Sugar Mill Pond. For the safety of our employees, an outage will be required to complete the last phase of the installation."

Slemco announced the schedule for final installation will take place at approximately 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 9 to minimize the inconvenience to customers. The outage is expected to last two to three hours.