Restoring power after a major outage is a big job. The main goal is to restore power safely to the greatest number of members in the shortest time possible. The major cause of outages is damage from fallen trees.
During a major outage, other cooperatives send line crews to assist with restoring power. These additional crews, as well as communications, equipment and supplies are coordinated through the cooperatives' statewide organization.
Report your outage to the cooperative office. Employees or response services use every available phone line to receive your outage reports. Remember that a major outage can affect thousands of other members. Your cooperative appreciates your patience.
Steps to Restoring Power
In order to restore power properly due to an outage, Four County Electric proceeds with the following order of priorities:
- Transmission Lines-These are high-voltage lines that move bulk electricity from a generating plant to a substation or between substations. A problem with one of these lines could interrupt the lectric power to several thousand customers.
- Substations-Substations are electrical facilities that contain equipment for switching or regulating the voltage of electricity. A problem within a substation could cause all of the customers being served from that substation to be without electric service. Also, if the problem is limitied to one paticular circuit leaving the substation, only those customers on that specific circuit would be without electric service. Again, a problem of this nature could interrupt electric service to several thousand customers.
- Main Distribution Lines-These are the 7,200 to 14,400-volt lines that you see along roadways that carry power from the substation. Each line serves a portion of consumers from the substation. A problem on a specific line could leave hundreds of consumers without electric service.
- Tap Lines-Tap lines are electric feeder lines with limited capacity that run from a main distribution line to a few customers. A fault on a tap line would interrupt service to those customers being served by that line only. Likewise, if the break on the tap line was repaired, the customers on that tap line would still be without power until the main line is repaired.
- Individual Service-This the line that runs from the transformer to your meter. A problem here would only affect the electric service to an individual customer, while the remaining system would still have electric service. Four County EMC does place priority on repairing outages that may endanger the public or to those customers who require the use of life-sustaining equipment.