An eastern Wyoming energy cooperative that serves mostly rural areas has been working around the clock for the past 10 days to restore power to its customers and repair nearly 600 downed power poles.
A powerful windstorm in Laramie County on April 6, coupled with rain and snow in western Nebraska and northeastern Colorado, was the perfect combination to rip through the power lines and poles, Pine Bluffs-based High West Energy Co-op Operations Manager Nate Begger told Cowboy State Daily.
“I actually called this on the Friday before,” Begger said.. “I heard from some farmers around here that they got about half an inch of rain before the snow started on April 6, so once the snow started falling and the wind picked up, we knew we were in trouble at that point.”
The storm downed 590 poles, making this High West’s largest recovery effort since a 2019 Thanksgiving snowstorm across the company’s coverage area.
Power’s Out
The outage stretched from Potter, Nebraska, down to Peetz, Colorado. Around 3,000 co-op members lost power during the peak of the storm Sunday, April 7, Begger said. The most affected areas fell between Kimball and Sydney, Nebraska.
“We did have some Wyoming members affected by the power outages, but it was pretty isolated,” Begger said.
By 1 p.m. April 10, High West linemen restored all power to residential customers. Now, Begger said, there are fewer critical projects to help restore, such as irrigation taps and oil wells.
“We’ve got some big stretches left, like sections where there are 14 poles, 12, and 10,” he said. “Then, we just have spots where there’s just one or two poles to put back up. At the peak of our production, we put up 134 poles in one day between all of our employees and contractors.”
Replacing a power pole can take anywhere from half an hour to an hour to do, depending on whether the pole is energized or not, Begger said.
There have been 66 linemen working to restore all of the poles, 27 of which are High West employees. The others are contractors or from other small energy co-ops, such as Wheatland REA, Saratoga’s Carbon Power and Light and Riverton’s High Plains Power.
High West Energy in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, has spent nearly two weeks repairing hundreds of power poles downed by a strong spring snowstorm across eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. (High West Energy via Facebook) 
High West Energy in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, has spent nearly two weeks repairing hundreds of power poles downed by a strong spring snowstorm across eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. (High West Energy via Facebook) 
High West Energy in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, has spent nearly two weeks repairing hundreds of power poles downed by a strong spring snowstorm across eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. (High West Energy via Facebook) 
High West Energy in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, has spent nearly two weeks repairing hundreds of power poles downed by a strong spring snowstorm across eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. (High West Energy via Facebook) 
High West Energy in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, has spent nearly two weeks repairing hundreds of power poles downed by a strong spring snowstorm across eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. (High West Energy via Facebook) 
High West Energy in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, has spent nearly two weeks repairing hundreds of power poles downed by a strong spring snowstorm across eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. (High West Energy via Facebook) 
High West Energy in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, has spent nearly two weeks repairing hundreds of power poles downed by a strong spring snowstorm across eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. (High West Energy via Facebook)
What’s Left
Begger estimated the final 88 poles will be restored in the next four weeks. As for now, the High West employees are fighting against Mother Nature as rain, snow or wind can complicate matters when replacing a power pole.
“Since we have to go into pastures or right of way roads, it’s just so muddy right now. We have to let it dry out before we can do anything,” Begger said. “We’re trying to do what we can, by all means, but we’re also trying to be stewards of the land so we don’t have to tear everything up and then go back and reseed.”
Several Laramie County businesses have provided food, refreshments and other mutual aid to High West Energy employees over the last 10 days to help them get through the long hours they are working. These include R&B Breakfast Club in Cheyenne, Cheyenne-based food truck Ranch Eats and Pine Bluffs restaurants Bluffs Bakery and Currie’s Dining, Sadie’s Cafe and Estela’s.
The effort hasn't gone without notice from High West's customers, who've flooded the company's Facebook page with praise and encouragement for keeping their lights on while fixing what would seem an overwhelming problem for a small co-op.
Ellen Fike can be reached at ellen@cowboystatedaily.com.
