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 DS&O Personnel Assigned To Work Outages

Q. When will DS&O be working before and after the storm?

A. DS&O will work to restore service during a storm, however working in those conditions could endanger the safety of our employees. Sometime restoration has to halted due to weather conditions. As soon as the storm has passes and winds have died down, assessments will be made and crews deployed.

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. What plans does DS&O have to bring in outside crews?

A. Virtually every DS&O employee is mobilized to assist in storm restoration in some way. Additionally, we call on other utilities and contractors, such as tree trimming crews, to assist. DS&O has mutual assistance agreements with utilities in Kansas and neighboring states. If damage from a storm exceeds our capability to restore service in a reasonable time, we will request crews from other utilities.

Q. How will you provide service to areas that may be unaffected by widespread outages or tornado damage?

A. In areas not affected by the storm, only a minimum number of crews will be left to handle emergency calls. We especially ask the patience of customers in unaffected areas while we work to restore service elsewhere.

Q. How will DS&O employees help in restoration?

A. DS&O trains qualified office workers to provide support to our regular power line crews. DS&O employees are trained to patrol and make field assessments, as well as to handle numerous field support roles needed to staff storm restoration activities at service centers and crew staging sites.

Q. How does DS&O manage increased calls during an emergency?

A. Our call centers use an automated outage reporting system, which takes customer calls and generates reports for prioritization according to our restoration plan. In an emergency, extra lines and additional people are assigned to the customer care phone centers to help facilitate the increased call volume. These individuals handle primarily emergency calls immediately after a storm and generally rotate 12 hour shifts until power is restored.