Over 23,000 Oncor Customers Lose Power Sunday, Rockwall Area Impacted

About 23,279 Oncor customers in and around Rowlett and the eastern Dallas–Rockwall area lost electricity after a transmission-level equipment issue knocked out service the morning of March 8, city officials and Oncor updates show. Rowlett’s social media message said, “the outage was caused by an issue with a main transmission line. It's not clear when power will be restored.”

Oncor’s systemwide status message, time-stamped at 6:30 a.m., reported a different total: “As of 6:30 a.m. Sunday, approximately 21,000 customers are without power across Oncor’s entire service territory.” Oncor’s outage map cited in local reporting showed roughly 10,000 customers without power in Dallas County and more than 2,500 customers in Rockwall County, and identified large pockets of outages in Garland, Rowlett and Fate.

The company attributed the breadth of the outage to a transmission-level failure: “The outage is due to an equipment issue on the transmission level, which explains the widespread nature of the lost power,” an Oncor spokesperson said. Oncor crews were restoring service by rerouting power where possible while technicians worked on the failed equipment, with the company saying they were “restoring customers by rerouting power through different lines” and that crews were onsite addressing the issue.

Local and company timelines show a gradual restoration during the morning. Reporting indicates the number of customers without power began to fall around 11 a.m., and Oncor told the public that, while it did not have a full ETA, “the company does not have an ETA on when everyone's power will be restored, but power was mostly back on around noon.” The differing totals and time stamps remain unresolved in published updates: Rowlett’s 23,279 figure appears in the city post, while Oncor’s 6:30 a.m. snapshot lists approximately 21,000 customers systemwide.

Oncor mobilized a large response force to manage repairs during the winter storm conditions, noting that “More than 10,000 Oncor and contractor damage evaluators, lineworkers, tree trimming crew members and other restoration personnel are assisting response efforts.” The utility said crews would operate in 16-hour, rotating shifts and warned that ongoing cold weather could complicate work, explaining, “Precipitation is expected to end on Sunday and the coldest point of the storm will be Monday morning. Temperatures are expected to stay below-freezing until Tuesday afternoon.”

Officials also issued a roadside safety reminder for drivers near restoration activity: “If you cannot avoid travel, please take extra precautions and be mindful of driving near larger utility vehicles. Texas’ ‘Move Over or Slow Down’ law requires drivers to move over a lane or reduce their speed to 20 mph below the posted speed limit when approaching utility vehicles stopped with flashing lights activated on the roadside.”

The outage occurred amid a broader statewide ice event that Oncor said was affecting other northeast and southeast counties, including Cherokee, Angelina, Nacogdoches and Red River Counties, a factor Oncor cited in its operational planning and staffing. Municipal and utility figures on total customers affected differ in the morning updates; neither source provided a reconciled, time-stamped final total in their initial messaging.