AEP-PSO officials say blackout had no impact on Oklahoma

AEP-PSO says its not likely Oklahoma would ever be part of a massive power outage. It's all in how it's set up. <br><br>Engineers say east of the Rockies, we are all plugged in to the same grid.

Friday, August 15th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

AEP-PSO says its not likely Oklahoma would ever be part of a massive power outage. It's all in how it's set up.

Engineers say east of the Rockies, we are all plugged in to the same grid. But this outage affected just certain areas and then stopped.

AEP-PSO engineer Tim Hostetler, "something has happened that wasn't planned for. But the protective equipment that was designed and installed has operated as it should to stop the blackout from rolling across the entire country."

The current protection system's design is based on the last outage of this magnitude, about 30 years ago.

Experts say this event may lead to more changes and will be studied by engineers for years to come.