Steps to restore power
Step One: A member calls in to notify Mor-Gran-Sou Electric that they are without power.
Step Two: Crews travel to assess the situation and restore power.
Step Three: Crews restore power to:
First Crews restore power to transmission lines. These lines carry large amounts of electricity. They rarely fail but must be repaired first.
Next restoring Distribution substations. Crews inspect substations, which can serve hundreds or thousands of people.
Then Main Distribution Lines. Main lines serve essential facilities like hospitals and larger communities.
Individual Homes and Businesses. After main line repairs are complete, we repair lines that serve individual homes and businesses.
What can cause an outage?
Weather | High winds, snow and ice can cause tree limbs to fall on power lines. Other weather effects like wildfires and lightning can cause major damage to equipment.
Accidents | Vehicles can crash into utility poles, bringing down power lines. Construction and excavation work can also result in disruptions to underground lines.
Critters | Squirrels, birds, snakes and other animals inadvertently contact power lines, causing short circuits and disruptions to electric supply.
What can cause an power blink?
Power blinks are also brief service interruptions, but they’re typically caused by a fault (short circuit) on a power line or a protective device that’s working in reaction to the fault. Faults can occur through a variety of instances, like squirrels, birds or other small animals contacting an energized power line; tree branches touching a power line; or lightning and other similar events. In fact, when it comes to power disruptions caused by critters, squirrels reign supreme. In 2019 alone, across the United States, squirrels were responsible for more than 1,200 outages.
Any of the events noted above can cause your power to blink, but you may also experience a brief interruption when protective devices that act like circuit breakers are working to detect the fault. Believe it or not, these brief power blinks caused by protective devices are actually good because that means the equipment is working as it should to prevent a prolonged outage.
What can you do about power blinks? Although blinks are usually brief and harmless, they can affect sensitive electronics. Here’s how you can prepare:
- Use surge protectors for electronics
- Consider uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) for computers or essential equipment
- Reset digital clocks or devices as needed
- Report frequent or repeated blinks to us