WOOD COUNTY, Texas (KETK) — Wood County Electric Co-Op has announced that they will be conducting a planned power outage on Wednesday.

According to a release, the power outage will affect the Hoard region, approximately 1,500 meters east of Mineola, and will last between three to five hours beginning at 7 a.m.

The company explained that this outage will mark the completion of the construction process of a new substation that will reportedly offer much more reliability, while also accommodating future load growth.

Prior to the outage, the co-op recommends that members do the following:

• Turn off appliances and electronics like washers, dryers, dishwashers, HVAC units, ovens, stoves and computers. Doing so, will prevent them from coming on unexpectedly when power is restored, and help crews reenergize more quickly.
• Take an inventory of your need/reliance on electricity. Plan to have portable chargers, batteries, bottled water and such on hand if you will require them.
• If you have medical devices that rely on electricity, have a backup plan to ensure operation, or a backup location to go to.
• If you have an electric garage door or gate, ensure you can manually open them.
• Operate generators outdoors in well-ventilated areas to avoid deadly carbon monoxide.

The co-op also stated that generators should never be connected directly to household wiring and should instead have appliances plugged into them.

“Otherwise, for a direct connection a double pole, double throw transfer switch that was installed by a qualified electrician can be used. This ensures electricity does not back-feed onto our line to pose electrocution risks to our crews,” the release reads.

During the outage, it is recommended that do the following:

• Keep freezers and refrigerators closed. Food should remain safe for the planned time period.
• If you did not do so prior, disconnect appliance and computers now.
• Report your outage using one of the company’s computerized tools, even in a planned outage. That way, you can request a power restoration notification. When power is restored, you’ll get an email, text or call. If you’ve moved to another location, you’ll know when power is up and running.  More importantly, there could be an individual outage or two after the substation is restored.  If you receive a notice that your power is on, and it’s not, you’ll know to re-report it, which will get crews on it quickly.
• Follow along on the Wood County Electric Co-Op Facebook page to see the progress.

The release concluded with a statement saying that “this repair is a necessary and important investment in the reliability of your service” and that the company will do its best to keep this interruption to a minimum.