Milwaukee neighborhood prepares for planned power outage Thursday -- where and why it's happening

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — Some people living in Milwaukee's Martin Drive neighborhood are getting ready for a very cold start to their Thursday this week.

They were surprised, on Friday, with a flyer from We Energies that warned their power would be turned off between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Thursday morning, Jan. 22.

That means their heat will not be running in bitter cold temperatures.

"I asked, why are you doing this, and why are you doing this when it's so cold?" said Pat Mueller, part of the Martin Drive Neighborhood Association.

Mueller manages apartments in the affected area, which will impact residents living between N. 43rd St. and W. Highland Boulevard from W. Vliet Street to W. Juneau Avenue,

She was concerned about the loss of heat overnight, especially for her elderly neighbors.

"I sent something out to the list-serv, and a lot of people started responding that they were concerned about it, too," Mueller said.

On Monday, she called the project manager for We Energies, who explained why it needs to be done this week.

"Two power lines basically feed these customers. One of them is not currently working," explained We Energies spokesperson Brendan Conway. "Our fear would be, if the other one were to have an issue, particularly in this really cold weather, those customers could be out for quite a bit of time."

We Energies typically does planned outages overnight to be less disruptive, and though it's still freezing, early Thursday morning is the warmest time available this week.

"People should understand, we are only doing this on a really cold night because it's so incredibly important for the system reliability, for the customers' reliability and their safety," Conway said.

Now, most of Mueller's neighbors understand.

"There was an agreement that it was probably the better thing to do than not to do," she said, but she wants to make sure everyone is prepared. "I believe they made a very good and strong effort to get these flyers on all the doors, but it still doesn't mean people will see it."

We Energies expects this outage to affect around 200 customers for one to three hours.

The flyer provides tips to prepare for the outage, such as charging devices and making battery-powered lights available.

We Energies wants anyone with questions or concerns to reach out to them.