BUTTE, Mont. — NorthWestern Energy is monitoring extreme weather conditions in western Montana and has entered initial stages of its Public Safety Power Shutoff plan.
There are no planned outages at this time, although if extreme weather conditions threaten the ability to safely operate the electrical grid, power will be shut off to help protect public safety.
“If a customer’s power is going to be shut off, we will contact you directly via email and/or phone at the email address or phone number we have on file. We continue to watch the forecasted wind event. If a planned power outage is needed for public safety, it is most likely in wildfire-prone areas outside Butte, Helena, Great Falls or Bozeman,” NorthWestern Energy officials said.
The following was sent out by NorthWestern Energy:
Due to extreme weather conditions, NorthWestern is monitoring weather forecasts in Montana. At this time, we are closely watching weather forecasts calling for high winds combined with high temperatures and low humidity forecasted for Thursday afternoon, July 25.
We have entered the 1.1 Monitoring Stage of our Public Safety Power Shutoff Plan.
There are no planned power outages at this time. This is the earliest stage of the plan. If extreme weather conditions threaten our ability to safely operate the electrical grid, we will turn off power to help protect public safety.
This is called a Public Safety Power Shutoff, or PSPS. At this time, NorthWestern Energy will closely monitor the weather forecast.
If a customer’s power is going to be shut off, we will contact you directly via email and/or phone at the email address or phone number we have on file.
We continue to watch the forecasted wind event. If a planned power outage is needed for public safety, it is most likely in wildfire-prone areas outside Butte, Helena, Great Falls or Bozeman.