Collinsville To Experience Citywide Power Outage On Oct. 23

The City of Collinsville will experience a citywide planned, power outage on Sunday, Oct. 23 around 7 a.m. for one hour.

The outage is for the city to make upgrades to its substation.

Anyone who pays a city utility bill will lose power. The City of Collinsville said it’s time to make some much needed upgrades to its electrical system.

The Grand River Dam Authority, which provides power to Collinsville said in a statement, “This planned outage is a necessary next step in order for the rest of the work to continue. It is scheduled to start at 7am Sunday and should take an hour to complete.“

The city posted on its Facebook and website to let residents know it’s happening, but some residents said they only learned about the outage from friends or at church.

News On 6 asked the city and GRDA how people should prepare for a city-wide power outage.

Both said you can prepare by following these tips:

-have a plan to maintain use of any medical equipment that needs electricity

-charge cell phones

-unplug computers, televisions, and sensitive electronics before the outage.

-know how to manually operate garage doors and electric gates.

-and turn off all heat-producing appliances such as stoves, toaster ovens, irons, and hair curlers.

We asked what the North County Nursing home is doing to take care of its residents who require powered medical devices. Staff said they'll use a generator to power the building.

We spoke to local business and restaurants who said the outage means they'll have to adjust their hours.

"It can be difficult to find an ideal time for planned outages, but crews try to schedule them at a time to help minimize the impact on residents," GRDA said.

Residents who use Verdigris Valley Electric Cooperative will not be impacted.

The police and fire departments said they have generators and will be able to respond to calls like usual.