The continued power problems in Bricktown make me wonder if OG&E is providing adequate power service and maintaining their infrastructure properly. In addition, it seems like everytime we have a storm come through, no matter how small it is, we still have power outages.

A few years ago, we had a power outage at our home, and a group from Texas ws up to work on our lines. We spoke with them, and they told us they felt like OG&E cut a lot of corners. I wonder if they're right.

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Bricktown goes dark again

Bricktown's power grid crashed just before 5 p.m., leaving restaurants and the Harkins Bricktown 16 theater dark.


About 500 customers were without power from about 5 to 6:45 p.m. in Bricktown and surrounding areas, Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co.'s Web site showed.

Brian Alford, spokesman for the utility, said the outage was caused by a faulty lightning arrestor within the system.

Most Bricktown-area customers had their power restored within an hour, Alford said.
The outage wasn't welcome for restaurants expecting large holiday rushes.

Jeremy Drum, manager of Mickey Mantle's Steakhouse, said his staff turned away several customers Sunday.

Drum said the most recent problem reminded him of similar situations the entertainment district had with power outages in December and January.

"It's a huge concern of ours because it always seems to happen before the dinner rush," Drum said.

After I saw this story, I began to wonder about the same thing. A couple summer ago, I lived in a house at about Memorial/MacArthur. We kept having power surges that would flip the breaker to my A/C. I would get home and it would be 95 degrees in my house sometimes. OG&E told me that there were too many houses on my grid/substation (or whatever they call the area), but since they weren't allowed to charge higher rates, they could not afford to get rid of the problem.

After I saw this story, I began to wonder about the same thing. A couple summer ago, I lived in a house at about Memorial/MacArthur. We kept having power surges that would flip the breaker to my A/C. I would get home and it would be 95 degrees in my house sometimes. OG&E told me that there were too many houses on my grid/substation (or whatever they call the area), but since they weren't allowed to charge higher rates, they could not afford to get rid of the problem.

They can't improve their power grids, yet they can afford to sponsor the Myriad Gardens lights every Christmas season.

Current update: A few thousand people are without power in Edmond; many traffic lights are out. This is great for a 99 degree day during rush hour.

I suppose the power grid failed due to the use of AC. That's probably OG&E's latest excuse.