Outage is a word none of us likes to hear in the electric utility industry. Whether it's vehicle accidents, severe weather, equipment failure, wind or lightning, outages happen, and usually are beyond our control. Restoring power after a major outage often involves several steps. Each step is strategically planned to restore power safely to the greatest number of members in the shortest time possible. So when you see your neighbor's power restored, and you're wondering why you're still without power, it's not personal. There is a strategic process to power restoration.

Step 1:

Transmission lines rarely fail, but severe weather like ice storms, hurricanes and tornadoes can damage them. One high-voltage transmission line may serve thousands, so if there is damage, it gets attention first.

Step 2:

Local distribution substations are checked first when major outages occur. There could be failure in the transmission system supplying the substation; however, if the problem can be corrected at the substation, power may be restored to a large number of people.

Step 3:

Next, main distribution supply lines are checked if the problem isn't at the substation. Substation lines supply towns, housing developments or a group of customers. When power is restored at this level, all customers served by this supply line could have power restored if there are no problems farther down the line.

Step 4:

Supply lines carry power to utility poles or underground transformers outside houses or other buildings. Line crews repair the remaining outages based on restoring service to the greatest number of customers.

Step 5:

Transmission lines rarely fail, but severe weather like ice storms, hurricanes and tornadoes can damage them. One high-voltage transmission line may serve thousands, so if there is damage, it gets attention first. If there is damage to your home's service entrance, you are responsible for repair. Call a licensed electrician for all service entrance repairs.