News – Sheridan Media
On Thursday, November 13, Powder River Energy Corporation
(PRECorp), a rural electric distribution cooperative serving northeast Wyoming,
experienced an unprecedented power blackout and voltage instability beginning
approximately 12:45 p.m. The resulting outage cut power to every PRECorp service, more than 27,000 meters in Campbell, Crook, Johnson, Sheridan and Weston counties in Wyoming
and parts of southern Montana.
Preliminary reports are that the blackout resulted from power problems at a 500 kV
transmission line near Medicine Bow. Cascading events rolled toward the
PRECorp system and also affected electric providers at Montana-Dakota Utilities,
Rocky Mountain Power, Black Hills Energy, Basin Electric, and Gillette City
services. At its peak, more than 100,000 services from Casper to Rapid City to
Sheridan and the northern edge of Cheyenne were impacted.
In response, PRECorp deployed line crews to nearly all of its 30-plus substations
to prepare to safely restore power to circuits across the system. “We wanted to
have eyes on every substation before it was energized,” VP of Engineering
Quentin Rogers said. “We avoided some problems for sure.”
The restoration process began approximately 3 p.m. as incoming voltage stabilized
and PRECorp crews prepared equipment settings to be re-energized. Crews
successfully restored power to communities through individual substations
beginning approximately 4:30 p.m. and final services were restored approximately
9 p.m.
PRECorp officials said the response was aided by favorable weather conditions
that allowed linemen and others to access all facilities. Although the sudden loss
of electricity across an entire region came as a jolt to residents and businesses
who operate here, the PRECorp systems that protect infrastructure and consumers
performed as designed as it responded to the high and low voltage scenarios. At this time, no employees were injured during the response and restoration. The PRECorp team operated nearly every switch and breaker on November 13, with only a few problems detected.
PRECorp is assisting with the investigation into the impact of this widespread and
unprecedented incident.
Other notes:
PRECorp CEO Brian Mills will host a telephone town hall meeting for
members at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, November 20, to answer questions about
the incident. The meeting will also be carried live on Facebook.
PRECorp line crews, distribution design technicians, engineers, and
information technology teams will conduct routine evaluations of equipment
in the coming days and weeks to identify any damage that might have
occurred during this incident.
Members may experience additional power issues from damaged arrestors,
particularly during wet weather. Call the 24-hour PRECorp outage number
1-888-391-6220.
Scammers are likely to take advantage of this event to unlawfully solicit
members’ personal information. The only number you can trust when
dealing with PRECorp is 1-800-442-3630.
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Last modified: November 15, 2025