Storm Center - Frequently Asked Questions

Power Restoration
When To Call If You Experience An Outage
DS&O Personnel Assigned to Work Outages
How You Can Help During An Outage
DS&O's Power Supply System During A Major Outage or Severe Weather Threat
Your Safety During an Outage
Your Bill or Damage to Your Property During or After an Outage

Questions About Power Restoration

Q. What are DS&O's priorities for service restoration?

A. First, DS&O will work around the clock until service is restored, though daylight hours are needed for most activities. Safety of personnel and the public will remain our highest priority. The priorities are:

• Assessing the overall system and repairing power plants, major lines and substations that carry power from plants to communities.
• Restoring power to key services essential to community safety, health and welfare - such as hospitals, police, fire, communications and water, sanitary and transportation providers.
• Making repairs to electrical facilities that will return service to the largest number of customers in the shortest period of time, then the next largest number and so on until power is returned to everyone.
• Keep in mind ... For the safety of our repair crews, DS&O will halt efforts to restore electric service when conditions are deemed no longer safe to work in. As soon as the storm has passed, damage assessment to the DS&O system will be the first priority. This way, when repair crews begin work, essential customers and services will get attention first, followed by efforts to restore service to large groups of customers before individual homes or businesses are scheduled. Please be patient and call 1-800-376-3533 to report an outage. DS&O will provide service restoration updates to local newspapers, radio, television to keep everyone informed of our progress.

Q. Do politicians, employees, other important individuals get special attention?

A. No. DS&O does not give preferential treatment. It is contrary to our storm restoration restoration plan and company policy to single out any individual for priority electric service restoration. Work is not assigned according to when customers report their outage, where they live or the status of their account.

Q. How does DS&O determine who has lost service and what repairs are needed?

A. We make an initial damage assessment of our system by observation. These initial observations help us understand the repairs that may need to be made to key facilities like transmission lines, substations and main power lines before we can begin the restoration process for customers. After the initial assessment and once its safe for our employees to begin work we dispatch patrol teams to conduct neighborhood-by-neighborhood assessments. These teams report electrical equipment damage and what repairs may be needed.

Q. How will fallen trees near power lines be handled?

A. One of our top priorities will be to remove trees and debris that have damaged electrical equipment and are preventing service restoration. Customers should not attempt to remove or trim foliage within 10 feet of a power line. If a tree or tree limbs have fallen on a power line or pulled it down, do not attempt to get close to the line. If the line is sparking, call DS&O at 1-800-376-3533 and report a downed line. Safety should always be your first priority when pruning. Look up. Be especially careful when working with a ladder, scaffold, pole or tree in your yard. Do not do any trimming near a power line.

Q. What precautions should I take if I'm returning to a home or business that has been flooded?

A. If you have any doubts about the integrity of your home or office electrical system as a result of flooding, check with local officials or a licensed electrician.

• Do not stand in water when operating switches, plugging in or unplugging appliances or resetting breakers or replacing fuses.
• Do not attempt to reset breakers or replace fuses until all water has receded. Use caution. Some circuits above the flood level may still be energized.
• Disconnect all electrical appliances before attempting to reset breakers or replace fuses. Be sure to wear dry shoes with rubber soles and stand on something dry and non-conductive, such as a dry piece of wood or wooden furniture.
• Use a dry and non-conductive "tool" such as a wooden stick or piece of PVC pipe in 1 hand when resetting breakers. Place the other hand behind your back. Do not make contact with the metal breaker box and other grounded objects in the area.
• Call a licensed electrician if breakers will not reset and continue to trip. This condition might indicate a short circuit in your electrical system.
• Check for water damage in all appliances and make sure cords and other parts are dry before re-plugging them into wall sockets.
• Disconnect an appliance immediately if a breaker trips, a fuse blows, or you see smoke or smell a burning odor. Have it checked by a qualified appliance serviceman.

Q. Why would DS&O crews pass my house without repairing anything?

A. If you see a DS&O crew passing but not stopping, it may be because work at a nearby location must be performed before electric service can be restored to you and your neighbors.

Q. Why am I the only house on the block without power?

A. Fuses or circuit breakers in your home could have tripped and halted power, tree limbs could have fallen on the line serving your home, fuses on the transformer that serves your home may have tripped or could be damaged, and the primary line feeding the transformer could be damaged.

Q. Can I pay an electrician to change my DS&O service wires or cables?

A. No. Electricians are not allowed to work on DS&O lines from the pole or transformer to your house. Your electrician handles work that needs to be done from the meter to inside the house, including your circuit breakers and home wiring.

Q. Why do I only have electricity in one part of my house?

A. You could have a tripped circuit breaker, a blown fuse or a broken connector or wire at one of the service leads to your house. Sometimes damage to these leads leaves only the 120-volt outlets (or some of them) working. In this case, larger appliances that need 240-volt service such as water heaters, air conditioning and ovens may be inoperable until repairs are made. It is safe to use the outlets you have available, while you check with an electrician. If its a problem with a service lead to your home, DS&O crews will repair the wires when they arrive to restore service.

Q. The electrical service line from the pole to my house appears to be pulled away from the house. What should I do?

A. DS&O personnel will be inspecting service lines and will determine if an electrician is required to fix the damage or if DS&O can make repairs. Piping that houses wires attached to the side of your home or business is considered part of the house wiring and can only be worked on by a licensed electrician.

Q. Why are my electric motors or machines running backward?

A. Turn off the machinery immediately and call DS&O. A technician will determine whether electric power phases were connected properly.

Q. If my lights come on, can I expect them to stay on?

A. Once service is restored, we make every effort to keep it on; however, as we repair other parts of our system, some interruptions may occur.

Q. What are the vulnerabilities of underground and overhead electric service?

A. Overhead lines are exposed to high winds and flying debris. Underground facilities can be subject to flooding. Repair and replacement time is about the same for equipment with similar functions. Repairs may take longer if an underground fault needs to be located and repaired.

Q. Are there some general expectations regarding how long restoration might take following a tornado or severe storm? What kind of situations could prolong the effort?

A. Restoration will depend in part on how many cities and counties are significantly impacted. DS&O's service territory covers 9 counties and 2,500 miles of line. If large steel transmission lines are damaged it can take weeks to repair. Resetting poles are the most time-consuming restoration process..