Public service commissioner, residents call for answers after unplanned power outage in Bossier, Caddo parishes

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) — Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell is demanding answers from SWEPCO and Southwest Power Pool (SPP) following an unplanned six-hour long power outage that happened in Bossier and Caddo parishes Saturday, April 26.

The outage affected more than 30,000 people in northwest Louisiana.

Jeannette Bange, who lives in south Bossier, says the outage was totally unexpected and made the day a bit difficult for her. Thankfully, it wasn’t too hot out when it happened, she says. Bange says she’s disappointed SWEPCO didn’t immediately explain the reason behind the outage. She has lived in the area since 1986, and says this has never happened before. Bange hopes SWEPCO is able to get things resolved before the weather really gets hot.

Campbell says he will be investigating why SPP ordered SWEPCO to “shed load” across highly populated areas of Bossier, Caddo, and Webster parishes from 3 to 9 p.m. Saturday. SWEPCO referred to the incident as an “emergency situation” that prevented them from warning customers ahead of time.

“My telephone has rung off the hook. The weather was calm and there was no obvious reason for the power to go out,” Campbell said Monday, April 28.

Michael Matlock, who also lives in south Bossier, says he just wants to know what’s going on. He says he understand why it’s happening when he pays his bill on-time. With the weather starting to warm up, he’s concerned about this happening again.

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Campbell’s office says SPP is one of 10 organizations in the U.S. that controls electricity generation and transmission for utilities in multiple states. The Little Rock-based nonprofit represents power companies and other related entities in 14 states, Campbell says.

A news conference will be held at Campbell’s office Tuesday at 10 a.m. During that time, Campbell says he’ll be asking SPP and SWEPCO representatives to answer questions about what happened.

“I’m not interested in finger-pointing. I want to know why it happened and what is being done to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” Campbell said.

There was also an emergency protection outage that happened in the area April 2. At the time, SWEPCO called the incident “rare.”

That outage affected around 20,000 people.

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