Xcel Energy in Minnesota is struggling to service its customers in the wake of a severe polar-vortex deep freeze gripping the region. Alarmingly, they are asking customers to turn down their thermostats to protect the natural gas supply, reported in the StarTribune:
Utility spokesman Matt Lindstrom says the extremely cold weather is causing a strain on Xcel's natural gas system. So it's asking customers in the area of Becker, Big Lake, Princeton to Chisago City to turn down their thermostats to 60 degrees or lower…. He did not know how the cold weather is straining the natural gas system.
Having a reliable gas supply is kinda important when the mercury drops like it has recently.
More alarmingly, a swath of Xcel Energy customers in the southern MSP metro area were without electricity during the coldest night in many years:
More than 6,000 homes are without power in the southern Twin Cities after Xcel Energy confirmed around 100 outages.
As 8 p.m., there were around 6,500 homes impacted by the outages on a night when wind chills are plunging into the 50s below zero.
The Bloomington-Savage-Burnsville area is the worst hit, with more than 5,000 customers experiencing a loss of power, while a further 1,400 or so are hit in the Chanhassen area.
According to Bringmethenews, Xcel was recommending customers go to homeless shelters ...
It’s cold out, yeah. Deadly cold when our infrastructure fails us.