Residents in several Flower Mound neighborhoods are asking the town for help to solve a rash of power outages. Oncor representatives met with town leaders recently to try to figure it out.
Many residents have complained to the town and the utility. Several also vented their frustrations on social media.
"Everything I do is on the internet. I'm on my laptop all the time," said Laura Warder, a marketing specialist who said power outages disrupt her work flow.
"I work from home," she said. "It's super inconvenient."
Warder said outages seem to be a monthly occurrence in her neighborhood -- often lasting as long as six hours. The affected areas are served by Oncor. The most recent outage, last week, affected about 3,000 customers. A switch gear issue was the cause.
"They just give you an ETA on when it's going to come back up,” she said. "Which is usually hours later."
At Flower Mound Town Hall, officials are keeping records of resident reports. Phones have been busy. The town contacted Oncor to meet, in an attempt to sort out the issue. Oncor told town officials weather, wildlife, trees and equipment issues can all cause power failure.
Oncor said it is works regularly to mitigate the impact of vegetation and trees on power lines. The utility company said it meets regularly with local governments to discuss customer service.
In a statement, Oncor apologized for any inconvenience the outages caused its customers: "We will continue to assess the recent power outages in the area and work diligently with the city of Flower Mound to determine the best possible solution to improve reliability for our customers."
Warder said she recently spent $600 to replace her pool power box, which she said burned out again, during the latest outage.
Each time the power goes out -- it's frustrating.
"Yes, very," she said. "It's inconvenient and it's costly."
