TransGard Systems releases list of the Five Worst Animal-Caused Substation Outages of 2013

YORK, Pa. - Jan. 15, 2014 - PRLog -- (New Freedom, Pa.) — Each year, climbing animals that find their way into U.S. substations cause power outages that affect hundreds of thousands of customers and cost millions in repairs, man-hours, and lost business. The TransGard team, which has installed its patented animal-prevention fencing at more than 2,000 substations, selected this year’s list from among hundreds of outages that plagued every region of the country.

Squirrels still top the list of offenders when it comes to animal-caused outages, but snakes, raccoons, domesticated cats, and even rats were responsible for some of the worst outages of 2013, causing significant equipment damage and leaving thousands of customers without power. This year’s list, in date order:

·         Masked menace   In March, a raccoon that crawled into a substation and damaged equipment was to blame for a power failure that knocked out electricity to 9,500 homes and businesses in San Benito, Texas.

·         Slithering serpent   When a snake interfered with a substation in Marshall County, Kentucky in May, approximately 7,153 residents and businesses lost power. West Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative has installed 2 Transgard systems to avoid this type of incident in the future.

·         Awww, nuts!   In July, a squirrel knocked out power for nearly 10,000 people in Multnomah County, Oregon, where just days prior a squirrel incident caused 5,000 customers to lose power in neighboring Gladstone.

·         Curious kitty   About 8,400 customers in the Museum District in Houston lost power in November when a cat managed to get inside a substation and blow a breaker.

·         Ratting around   In December, about 1,400 residents around Chehalis, Washington lost power when a rat crawled into power equipment, resulting in a shortage that burned out a breaker and caused the power transformer fuses to burn out.

These outages represent a small fraction of the widely publicized (and unreported) animal-caused outages at U.S. substations. For more information about how patented TransGard fences eliminate substation outages caused by climbing animals, visit www.transgardfence.com.

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About TransGard Systems    TransGard’s patented fencing was developed exclusively to eliminate substation outages caused by climbing animals. Since it was founded in 1990, TransGard fences have been installed at more than 2,000 substations in the U.S. and Canada, and as far away as South America. For more information or to request a quote, visit www.transgardfence.com.