SUSSEX COUNTY, Del. – Some Delmarva Power customers woke up without power Wednesday, specifically customers in Millville, Ocean View, and Bethany, according to the company.
The power went out a little after 6:30 a.m.
Matt Likovich, media relations manager for Delmarva Power, says the company was in the process of doing maintenance work on Cedar Neck substation (just north of Bethany Beach) and as result “there was a strain on the grid at that point due to the very cold weather this morning.”
Likovich also says Delmarva Power has “funneled some power from the Bethany substation to the Cedar Neck substation. However, customers are being brought back into service in stages.” Likovich says that process is called “cold load pickup.”
According to Delmarva Power, cold load pickup is when the company re-energizes a distribution system after it has been out for a length of time.
“The load becomes "cold" and draws more current than it would during normal operation,” Likovich said. “This is due to things like transformers energizing, capacitors charging, motors starting, light bulb filaments heating up, etc. When this happens you can trip out the main breaker again, so we energize with all of our feeder breakers open and pick them up one by one, allowing the system to stabilize.”
To check for any power outages, see the Delmarva Power outage map.
