Power line outages that utilities couldn’t control have left thousands without power this week.

SAN ANTONIO. More than 2,500 customers were left without electricity in Bern on Thursday morning. Typically, outages occur due to failures of local equipment and, most often, the collapse of power lines due to tree branches or ice.

However, on Thursday, the Bandera Electric Cooperative lost power to the entire substation and to 2,000 consumers due to the fact that the high-voltage power line leading to the station stopped supplying electricity. It was also something that the utility had no control over.

“The LCRA is having problems with the power line that serves the Manger Creek substation. It serves residents who buy electricity from the city, as well as members of the Bandera Electric cooperative,” said Bandera Electric spokesman John Padalino.

LCRA, or the Lower Colorado River Authority, is a transmission service provider responsible for high-voltage transmission lines to several utility substations in communities north of San Antonio. A map of the territories they serve can be viewed here.

The LCRA transmission line to the Manger Creek substation was cut off around 8:45 a.m., and power was restored about four hours later, Padalino said.

Bandera Electric Cooperative was not the only utility company to have problems with the LCRA line. New Braunfels Utilities, which serves the city of New Braunfels, had over 4,000 customers without power from 7:00 pm Wednesday to 7:00 am Thursday. Again, this was something that the utility had no control over.

“This situation arose due to the failure of several static wires owned by the authorities of Lower Colorado in their transmission system. Static wire is a wire that sits on top of a pole and helps dissipate power surges that occur during storms, reducing electrical damage. Melissa Krause, a spokeswoman for the utility, said in an email.

Power line problems also extended to San Antonio and CPS power. Although the LCRA does not serve the city of San Antonio, according to its map, CPS Energy has reported some issues with the LCRA:

At the peak of the storm, 45,000 customers experienced an outage. Currently, one of the largest outages affecting more than 7,000 customers in the Fair Oaks Ranch area is due to a problem with a nearby utility, the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA). LCRA transmission lines are damaged and affect the CPS Energy substation serving customers in the area. CPS Energy has been able to connect some customers to other circuits, but currently over 2,000 customers remain without electricity. Upon completion of the repair of the LCRA, the CPS Energy teams will be able to restore the power supply to the remaining consumers.

LCRA’s transmission lines also serve the Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC), which in turn provided power to thousands of consumers in South and Central Texas. The PEC outage map reported more than 4,000 outages in Texas as of 6:15 p.m., although the utility did not say exactly how many outages were related to LCRA power lines.

KENS 5 contacted the LCRA on Thursday and asked how long it would take to restore power to some of these utility customers. The LCRA declined to be interviewed and issued the following statement:

“Icing on transmission facilities has resulted in outages at several substations throughout the region, including in the areas you asked about. Crews are working around the clock to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. These issues are related to icing on power lines and are not related to the state of the Texas power grid,” the statement said.