Be Prepared for Outages

Power outages can occur at any time, so it is important to prepare for them before they happen:

  • Keep a flashlight, portable radio, and extra batteries handy.
  • Know where your electric service panel is located. They are commonly found in the basement, in an attached garage, or other interior locations near the exterior electric meter.
  • If you have a water well and pump, keep an emergency supply of bottled water on hand.
  • If you use an electric range for cooking, keep an emergency supply of convenience foods that do not require cooking.
  • If you have a backup generator, be sure you know how to use it safely.
  • Keep a plain, hard-wired telephone handy; you may need it to report your electricity is out. Many cordless or feature-laden telephones require a plug-in power source to operate, and may not work if a power outage occurs. A cell phone will work as long as its battery is charged (you may want to keep an extra charged battery handy) and the nearest cell tower has power or battery backup power. However, a plain, hard-wired phone can operate on power delivered through the phone line.

There are additional steps you can take to prepare for thunderstorms, winter storms, and heat waves.

You can view current outages on our 24/7 Power Center outage maps, and follow us on social media for updates during significant storms.

Note: When outages occur, we are only responsible for restoring electric service to our customers. If other utility services such as telephone or cable TV are also affected, please contact those companies to have services restored.

Still need help?
Contact us with your questions.