Gulf Power encountered a glitch on Jan. 6 that caused 991 customers, including UWF, to be without power.
“We don’t know what caused the power outage, but the cause is under investigation,” Gulf Power spokesperson Jeff Rogers said in a telephone interview. “High demand, failed equipment, storms or maybe an animal could have caused this to happen.”
Rogers said that the incident occurred at the Gulf Power substation located between Scenic Hills and Nine Mile Road.
“The electricity was intermittently on and off all day between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.,” said Cheryl Ezell, associate director of the UWF Commons. The Commons had power supplied by an auxiliary generator.
“The reason the lights keep flickering is because our electricians are in the process of getting everyone’s lights turned back on, “ Rogers said. “Some customer’s lights have to temporarily go off in order for other customers’ lights to get on. Having all the switches on at the same time could have been harmful to the technicians.”
The electricity was also out in the library and in classroom buildings. Students and faculty were unable to get to class or check their e-mail.
“It got really frustrating toward the end of the day because we kept losing data,” said Blyth Webster, Pace Library building coordinator. “After the two-hour power outage, we thought that everything was fixed, so we weren’t expecting it to happen again.”
Starbucks could not serve drinks Computers were shut down.
The slide doors in the Commons and library could not automatically open. Some residents on campus woke up in the dark.
“I live in Martin Hall and woke up to no electricity -- I had to take a shower in the dark,” freshman Melissa Smith said, “I also had to use my keys to get into Martin Hall because the card machine did not work.”
Classes at 10 a.m. were canceled by the UWF Provost.
“My boyfriend drove for 15 minutes in efforts to get to class just to find out that his 8:30am class was canceled,” freshman Abby Morgan said. “He was angry.”
Despite the power outage, UWF students and faculty managed until the power was restored in time for 11:30 classes. The power went on and off again in the afternoon.
To remedy the problem, UWF personnel kept the slide doors open for students and faculty to get through and turned on the auxiliary generators, said John Crowe, graduate assistant for UCSA operations. Rogers said that this event is not likely to occur again.
“Research shows that the Gulf Coast reliability is at 99.9 percent,” Rogers said. “The power outages have a 0.1 percent chance of happening.”
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