When You Have an Outage

• Report it by calling 800-662-4797.
• Protect food from spoiling by keeping freezer and refrigerator doors closed as much as possible. Food stays frozen up to 48 hours if the door is not opened frequently.
• Follow manufacturers’ directions for safe operation of generators. More about generators
• Use manual operation of electric garage doors.
• Keep doors, windows and drapes closed to prevent heat loss in cool weather. Gas furnaces have electric blowers that do not work during an outage.
• Switch on a light that can be seen from the street if you leave your home. Our crews often look for lights when checking neighborhoods.
• Stay out of a flooded basement, which can be dangerous if power is restored.
• Stay away from any power line that is down – and anything touching it. Call us at 800-662-4797 to report it. More about power line safety

How We Respond to Outages

For most outages, we send a troubleshooter.
The troubleshooter determines the cause, fixes it if possible or calls a crew to make a repair.

During widespread outages, we prioritize.

• Life threatening or hazardous conditions – such as a power line on a street or vehicle – come first.
• Second, we fix large outages by repairing main lines and major equipment to return electric power to the largest number of customers quickly.
• Third, we repair small or isolated outages by repairing secondary lines and neighborhood equipment.

Sometimes trees or limbs are cleared. We remove fallen trees and broken limbs only to the point where we can restore power safely and quickly. We are not able to assist in removing debris from yards. Please contact your municipality for storm cleanup information.

How You Can Prepare for Outages

• Assemble an emergency kit and put it where it’s easy to find in the dark. We suggest flashlights, candles, matches, blankets, bottled water, extra batteries, battery-operated radio, canned or dried food, corded or cell phone.
• Consider a battery back-up that switches on automatically for your sump pump.
• Consider a spare plug-in telephone or cellular phone for emergency situations. Cordless phones do not work during a power outage.
• Test your generator every 30 days to make certain that it is in good operating condition. More about generators
• Use surge suppression devices to help protect sensitive equipment.
• Consider how an outage may affect security and alarm systems.

Why Outages Happen

Typical Outages

Planned Outages
We sometimes interrupt power to area homes and businesses to allow our crews to perform maintenance work. We make every effort to inform customers and communities in advance.

Momentary Outages
Momentary power outages are an indication that our electric delivery system is operating safely and correctly. Causes can be wildlife, weather, trees or contractor dig-ins into underground facilities.