PINEVILLE, La. – June 17, 2020 – To safely perform additional maintenance work on a major transmission power line and substation in St. Landry Parish, Cleco customers in Opelousas will be without electricity for approximately three hours beginning at 11:59 p.m. Thursday night.

“This second planned outage is necessary to make repairs and improvements to the electrical system that serves the city of Opelousas while keeping our workers safe,” said James Lass, director of distribution operations and emergency management.  “We don’t expect the outage to last any more than three hours, and the timeframe could be shorter. Our planning ensures the impact on our customers is minimal.”

• WHAT: Cleco customers in Opelousas will be without electricity approximately three hours or less to make repairs and improvements to a major transmission power line and substation.
  
• WHEN: Thursday, June 18, between 11:59 p.m. and 3 a.m. Friday, June 19
  
• WHO: Cleco and contractor crews will perform the maintenance work.
  
• WHERE: City of Opelousas

How customers can prepare:

• If you rely on medical devices that require electricity, you should have a backup plan in case you need the equipment during the outage.
• Charge cell phones.
• Unplug computers, televisions and sensitive electronic devices.
• Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed.
• If you have a generator, never operate it indoors.  Appliances should be plugged directly into portable generators with grounded extension cords that can handle the load.  Only refuel a generator when the engine is off and cool.

Customers who have questions about the planned outage can contact a Cleco customer service representative at 1-800-622-6537. Representatives are available Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Cleco Corporate Holdings LLC is a regional energy holding company that conducts its business operations through its subsidiaries, Cleco Power LLC and Cleco Cajun LLC. Cleco Power is a regulated electric public utility company that owns 10 generating assets with a total nameplate capacity of 3,360 MWs and serves approximately 288,000 customers in Louisiana through its retail business and supplies wholesale power in Louisiana and Mississippi.  Cleco Cajun is an unregulated utility company that owns eight generating assets with a total nameplate capacity of 3,555 MWs, with contracts serving nine Louisiana cooperatives, three wholesale municipal customers and one electric utility.  For more information about Cleco, visit us at www.cleco.com.