Learn How to Prepare for Storm Outages

Causes of Outages

Electric service can be interrupted by many events. Lightning strikes from thunderstorms, high wind, heavy snowfall or ice can cause major disruptions. Other events might include:

• Automobile accidents involving power poles
• Animals such as squirrels shorting power equipment
• Digging without checking for underground lines

Customers should be prepared for these outages to help minimize their effect.

Preparing for Outages

Put together an emergency kit and keep it accessible. Include several flashlights, a battery powered radio or TV, and spare batteries. Test the flashlights and batteries on a regular basis to ensure their operation when needed. Be careful if you decide to use candles and/or storm lamps for emergency lighting.

Those of you who have a generator should follow all safety procedures for its use. Never connect the generator into your circuit breaker or fuse box. Backfeed from even a very small generator can be deadly if it reaches Tri-County REC's linemen. Linemen have been electrocuted by the backfeed from generators.

Lightning strikes from thunderstorms can cause surges in your home’s electrical wiring. To prevent damage, unplug devices such as computers, microwaves, TVs and stereos. Snow and ice storm outages may prevent your home from being heated. Be sure to have blankets available, or if you use an alternative source of heat such as a wood burning stove or kerosene heater read all safety precautions concerning their operation. Open refrigerators and freezers only when necessary to help retain the cold and prevent food spoilage. For those of you that have electric well water pumps, have extra water on-hand for drinking and to flush toilets.

If you have a family member using electrically powered equipment for a medical condition, such as an oxygen generator, be sure to have backup supplies on hand, and a plan for moving to another location until your power is restored.

If your power goes out, check your circuit breakers or fuses. If they are OK, call Tri-County REC at 1-800-343-2559. We maintain a 24-hour dispatch center to help you. We will ask for your name, address, phone number, and a statement of your problem or observation such as arcing wires.

Please call immediately if you see a downed line. Do not assume that because your power is out that the line is dead!

Outage Recovery

Shutting off the circuit breakers to furnaces, electric heaters, refrigerators and freezers and all but a few lights will lessen the load on the power lines and make restoring service easier for Tri-County REC. When the lights come back on you can turn all your breakers back on.

Outage restoration follows a well-prepared plan. Certain critical services are always restored first, such as Hospitals, Fire, Police, Emergency Management Centers, Water Treatment and Wastewater Treatment facilities. Wire-down calls are given the highest priority. Then attention is turned to areas of the greatest customer outages, followed by the balance of the system.