Many people across the region saw the lights go out today as planned power outages were used to balance electrical loads in a wide area of the country.

South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Chairman Chris Nelson says the Southwest Power Pool, a shared electrical generation source, was dealing with historic demand…

Nelson says the power pool is supposed to support the power needs across the entire fourteen state region….

Nelson says he and other state regulators continue to push for a broad array of available power generation sources…

Officials with the Southwest Power Pool have said most of the problems are with thermal generation stations that depend on natural gas.