In an emergency call 608-752-4550 or 866-752-4550 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Electric outages

Responses are not always first in, first out

Storms are the number one cause of electrical outages. Summer thunderstorms and winter ice storms both take their toll on above ground equipment. How we respond to outages, especially storm caused outages that can leave lines down in many places at the same time, can sometimes be confusing to members.

For instance, you may call us to report a single line down between a pole and your house, and see our truck drive right past that downed line 10 minutes later without stopping to repair it. What you don't see is that there is another line down that feeds electricity to everyone on your street as well as the one you see out your window. We will normally work outward from central power points first to reconnect as many members as possible as quickly and safely as possible.

We regret that we are not able to call members back to report when we expect power to be restored during an unplanned outage. We do invite you to call us again if you are still without power after a reasonable time of reporting the outage. We can't promise to complete outage repairs within a certain time, but will do our best to keep those handling calls from our members informed of how long we expect an outage to take to repair.

Remain safe around downed power lines

So what should you do if you must wait for us to respond, but you have been trapped by, or are near, a downed power line?

Always assume a downed power line is energized. An energized line will not always hum, or emit sparks. Remember too that we may re-energize a downed line at any moment as we work from the source of an outage out to each individual meter. So, always consider the line live and dangerous.

A live wire touching the ground can cause electricity to travel through the ground, radiating outward from the contact point. Stay at least ten feet away and do not attempt to rescue anyone close to a downed power line.

Electricity forms rings of different voltages. If a line comes down near you for whatever reason, don't run away from it. Instead shuffle your feet, or hop with both feet landing on the ground at the same time. Running may cause your legs to "bridge" current from a higher ring to a lower voltage ring. This could result in a shock.

If a broken power line should fall on your vehicle, stay inside the vehicle. Use your cell phone to call for help. The vehicle can become energized and you are safer remaining inside until help arrives. If you must get out of the vehicle because of fire for example, jump clear of the vehicle so that you do not touch any part of it and the ground at the same time. Once you clear the vehicle, shuffle or hop away.