SWEPCO, other utility companies put emergency controlled outages in the ArkLaTex into effect again SWEPCO crews prepare ahead of major ice storm; controlled emergency blackouts could happen again By Kaitlyn Gibson and Curtis Heyen | February 15, 2021 at 12:38 PM CST - Updated February 16 at 9:57 PM SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) — Cleco Power began periodic power outages on the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 16. They say extremely cold temperatures are causing an increase in demand for power which is resulting in an overload of the power grid. “While our crews worked to prepare for this storm, a loss of generation combined with the peak load due to record-low temperatures have caused a strain on the power grid system. In an effort to prevent damage or lengthy power outages, Cleco was instructed by MISO to begin forced power outages,” said Terry Whitmore, vice president of transmission services. “Depending on conditions, individual customers could experience multiple outages each lasting less than an hour until we receive notification from MISO that this is no longer necessary to protect the electric grid system.”