A widespread power outage affected customers in South Dakota and Wyoming on November 13, 2025. The outage was triggered by a regional transmission event that impacted multiple utilities and caused generation facilities and substations in both states to go offline. Black Hills Energy reported that its own system was also affected.
According to Black Hills Energy, the restoration process required a phased approach to ensure system safety and stability. “To protect system safety and stability, we are using a phased process to restore power. It is critical that our power facilities ramp up slowly to prevent damage to the system. We appreciate your patience and will continue working this evening to restore service to all impacted customers. Estimated restoration time is 10 p.m.” the company stated.
Earlier updates from the company indicated ongoing efforts throughout the day: “We are continuing to work as quickly as possible to safely restore service to all South Dakota and Wyoming customers impacted by today’s regional electrical outage.” Black Hills Energy explained that its power generation facilities and substations were affected, making the restoration process complex.
During the phased restoration, customers could experience short outages or flickering lights. The company emphasized its focus on safety: “The safety of our customers and systems continues to be our highest priority. We appreciate your patience as our crews work to restore service.”
By mid-afternoon, Black Hills Energy had restored power for about half of its affected customers: “Our team is now re-energizing the system in segments. As of 2:30 p.m. today, approximately half of our impacted customers have had their power restored.”
The outage was attributed to an event on the regional transmission grid outside of Black Hills Energy’s direct control.
Customers were advised on safety measures during outages such as keeping refrigerator doors closed, using flashlights instead of candles, avoiding generator use indoors, and treating non-functional traffic signals as four-way stops.
For updates, residents were encouraged to check Black Hills Energy’s social media channels or visit their outage map.
“Safety is and will continue to be the company’s top priority. We will provide more information as soon as it is available,” Black Hills Energy stated.
