Electric Outage Safety

Steps to follow during an electrical outage

Line crew repairing lineWhile Capital Electric's goal is to provide you with reliable, uninterrupted service every day of the year, sometimes Mother Nature or other factors work against us. Whether power outages are caused by a blizzard, ice or a squirrel, it's wise to be prepared and follow these steps if an outage occurs:

Confirm the outage. Check the lights in other rooms, since you may have only blown a fuse. If all your lights are off, check with a neighbor before calling Capital Electric. This will help us determine the extent of the outage.
Call Capital Electric. We'll need to know your name, location and telephone number. Remember, if the outage is widespread, the phone lines may be busy, but keep trying or leave us a message if you can. We will send a line crew to find the problem and restore power as quickly as possible.
Protect your appliances. After you've called Capital Electric, turn off any appliances you were using when the power went off, especially the stove, iron or power tools. Then turn off all your large appliances, including space heaters, air conditioners, water pumps, refrigerators and freezers. This will prevent your electrical circuits from being overloaded when power is restored. Finally, disconnect all sensitive electronic equipment such as computers, TVs, VCRs and microwave ovens to avoid damage from a power surge.
Practice safety. For example, if you use a standby generator, be sure it's installed and wired properly. Never connect a generator directly to your main electrical panel. Without the correct safety mechanisms, power from the generator could flow onto the power line and injure you or a line crew.

If you have additional questions about what to do during an electrical outage, contact us at Capital Electric.