A “power outage” refers to times where the electricity and power in your home or office stops working for an interval of time due to storms, floods, natural disasters, damage of power lines or power stations, a blown fuse, tripped circuit, etc. The time your power goes out can be very unpredictable; it can be for a few seconds or proceed throughout a span of days. Power outages can also be widespread—it can be only your house or it could be a city, state, or an entire region. Your family should always know certain tips of what to do if your power goes out…
First go outside and check to see if your neighbors’ power or your neighborhood’s power is still on. If the outage extends to other homes or buildings in your neighborhood, then this is likely a power outage that can be caused by a variety of reasons. If the reason is not immediately evident, i.e. there isn’t a wind storm or rain storm that may have caused the outage, contact your Transmission and Distribution Service Provider (TDSP) for information on this issue and what is being done to resolve the outage. For your convenience, the numbers are listed below. Storms frequently knock out power and TDSP’s will be proactively addressing outages. Unless you live in a remote area, it’s likely the TDSP is already aware of the outage and is working the problem. Be conscientious that if there is a storm affecting multiple neighborhoods, a single call to report an outage may be unnecessary and frustrating for you if you can’t get through. Be patient unless there is a hazardous condition present, i.e. a downed wire.
- If the power in your neighborhood is functioning then the outage is likely an isolated problem involving your house which you can take care of by checking your circuit box for things such as a blown fuse or a tripped circuit. If there is any one of these problems, then go inside unplug all the appliances and turn on a switch if it is turned off which will likely fix the problem.
- If your issue is still not resolved, make sure you are current with your Retail Electric Provider. If this oversight is the issue, call your REP immediately to pay your bill.
- If the circuit box is not the problem and you are current with your REP, then call your TDSP and report the problem and they can tell you if there is a damaged power line in your area or another dilemma.
When contacting your TDSP, it’s helpful to have your ESI ID available. This information identifies your meter uniquely. You can find this information on your bill sent to your by your REP. Your REP updates your contact information with the TDSP, so it is important that you keep your contact information as up to date as possible with your REP. If the TDSP needs to contact you, the information provided by the REP is what they have in their database.
TDSP Contact Numbers:
