Rocky Mountain Power making progress on restoration after Salt Lake City-area earthquake

Rocky Mountain Power continues to make progress restoring service to customers after a 5.7 magnitude earthquake in the Salt Lake City area. The company hopes to have all customers restored by this evening.

At 1 p.m. MDT, there were about 10,000 customers out of service; down from 73,000 immediately after the quake.

Most outages were caused by protective devices on the electric grid activating to prevent damage to utility and customer equipment. Once physical inspections of affected substations were completed, the power was restored by the company’s central control center. Restoration efforts have also been aided by Rocky Mountain Power’s redundant systems with certain call center and grid operation functions being temporarily shifted to its sister division, Pacific Power, in Portland, Oregon.

To the extent there is physical damage to lines or structures, repairs may require more time for restoration of customers affected by those conditions.

Rocky Mountain Power appreciates the patience of our customers as we work to complete our work. Repair crews will remain engaged until service is restored to all customers.