PNM Building in Albuquerque, NM. Source: Wikimedia Commons
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By Hannah Grover
The Public Service Company of New Mexico had plans to shut off power to 10,000 customers in the East Mountains at noon Thursday due to high wind conditions that could make utility equipment more likely to start a fire.
By late afternoon, PNM announced it would no longer implement a Public Safety Power Shutoff as “the intensity of the storm appears to be lower than forecasted in the East Mountains.”
Michael Mertz, senior vice president of operations, announced plans for the shutoff during a media briefing Thursday morning.
In a notice PNM sent out Wednesday, the utility warned customers that the power would not be restored until Friday to allow PNM workers to investigate infrastructure and look for any wind-related damage.
While PNM initially planned to shut off power to the Santa Fe, Cochiti Lake, and Las Vegas areas, officials say that will also not happen. However, PNM is changing the system to prevent lines from re-energizing if the power is interrupted.
PNM will continue to monitor the weather and has implemented additional system settings to reduce the risk. Customers can still expect outages related to this storm and extended restoration times.
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