HOUTZDALE – A power outage occurred early Friday morning that affected residents in the Houtzdale and Osceola Mills areas.
According to Penelec Area Manager John Shimko, around 2:15 a.m. the circuit between Philipsburg and Houtzdale locked open causing power to be interrupted to approximately 1,300 customers. Within 15 minutes, Penelec dispatchers performed automated switching and restored power to 750 customers and isolated the problem area. Crews were called out to patrol the line and they discovered two poles were down off state Route 53 east of Houtzdale.
Additional manual sectionalizing was performed and all but a handful of customers were restored by 8:30 a.m. New poles were being set this morning and all customers are expected to be restored by around noon
Penelec would like to thank their customers for their patience during restoration efforts and reminds customers to treat all downed wires as energized and dangerous. Customers can report downed wires and power interruptions by calling 1-888-LIGHTSS (1-888-544-4877).