More than half of Carthage out of power this morning

UPDATE 1: ” All power has been restored by SPA to our CWEP system. If you are still without power please give us a call, 417-237-7300. Thank you for your patience during this time and have a great rest of your day!” – Carthage Water and Electric Plant

UPDATE 2: “Due to the outage we are seeing some meters on our system that were affected and those customers may still be without power. If you are still without power please let us know at 417-237-7300. Crews are currently responding to those calls to restore power!” – Carthage Water and Electric Plant

Residents of Carthage woke up to an unexpected blackout this morning as a widespread power outage struck the town, leaving most homes and businesses in the dark. 

The outage, which began in the early hours of Monday, has been traced to an issue within the Southwestern Power Administration (SPA) transmission system, according to local utility officials.

The Carthage Water & Electric Plant (CWEP) first alerted the public via social media at 4:45 a.m., reporting that crews were actively investigating the cause of the outages across their system.

By 5:22 a.m., CWEP provided a critical update, pinpointing the source of the disruption within a transmission system. 

As the morning progressed, a 6:15 a.m. update brought a glimmer of hope. CWEP reported that its power plant had begun generating electricity to restore service to some customers where possible. However, full restoration remains out of reach until SPA completes repairs on its end.