Bird at substation cut power overnight in Pleasant View and Cahone
Empire Electric says a bird struck a high-voltage switch at its Anasazi substation Monday evening. Some homes were dark until early Tuesday; power was back to every meter by 7:45 a.m.
A bird that struck a high-voltage switch at Empire Electric Association’s Anasazi substation knocked out power across the Pleasant View and Cahone area Monday evening, and some homes stayed dark through the night.
Crews were called to the substation at 5:40 p.m. Monday and found the switch damaged by the bird, the co-op said in an update posted at 9:30 p.m. They replaced it, but the high-voltage feed would not reconnect, and a crew from Tri-State, Empire Electric’s wholesale power supplier, was sent to examine the substation’s transformer.
While they worked, Empire Electric crews switched as many members as they could onto power from its Dove Creek and Arriola substations. The co-op warned that the switching could cause short outages for members on the west side of its service area between Arriola and Dove Creek, and that members south and west of Pleasant View would not have power back until about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday. If the transformer turned out to be damaged and a mobile substation had to be brought in, it said, restoration could take until late Tuesday afternoon.
It did not come to that. At 7:45 a.m. Tuesday the co-op said power had been restored to all meters.
Empire Electric’s notices did not say how many members lost power. One resident, thanking the co-op online, put the number at 517 homes. The co-op’s outage map still showed 62 customers without power at 6:20 a.m.
Anyone still without power should check that their breakers are closed, Empire Electric said, and if they are, call the co-op at (970) 565-4444 so it can investigate.
Source: Empire Electric Association on Facebook, Oct. 19 and Oct. 20, 2026