Widespread power outage attributed to two downed power lines
GILLETTE (WNE) — Two tripped power lines in southern Wyoming are believed to have been the cause of a widespread power outage that left nearly 100,000 homes and businesses without electricity Thursday afternoon.
“We believe the outage, which began around 12:45 p.m., was triggered by two tripped 500-kilovolt lines near Medicine Bow, Wyoming,” Western Area Power Administration Public Affairs Specialist Stephen J. Collier said in a statement to WyoFile. “This incident resulted in an abnormal voltage event that subsequently tripped a number of surrounding lines, including WAPA transmission, resulting in further power outages to communities across the area.”
At 12:40 p.m., Gillette lost power. At 1:40 p.m., electricity had been restored to Gillette customers, but 40 minutes later, the power went out again.
At 5 p.m., the city noted that all of its substations were back online and power was restored. It advised city residents to check their breakers if they don't have electricity in their home and that they may need to flip their main breaker as well as their panel breakers.
The Powder River Energy Corporation reported that 26,000 of their meters in northeast Wyoming were affected, and that PRECorp members "should be prepared for an extended outage through the night.”
“The voltages coming into our system are unstable and are tripping off power,” PRECorp wrote in a Facebook post. “That’s why some are seeing ‘lights on, lights off.' We have crews staged at almost every substation to begin safe restoration of power once the voltages stabilize. However, we do not want to flip the switches unsafely. We do not want to blow up transformers or arrestors and cause more problems.”
This story was published on Nov. 14, 2025.