Restoring Power Step by Step
Our goal is to safely restore power to the greatest number of customers in the shortest time possible.
We’ve all seen the images of destruction caused by the outbreak of severe storms and tornadoes this spring. Dangerous weather can happen anytime and anywhere, even in the most unlikely places.
For this reason, members should be on alert when a severe storm warning is issued.
With the beginning of summer comes the start of hurricane season. Summer also brings the chance of thunderstorms with dangerous lightning. Power outages may occur as a result.
A handful of outages in a confined area may take just a few hours to restore. Widespread outages affecting most of our system may take days or weeks to repair.
While we realize how frustrating this may be to members, it’s important for you to understand why restoring power generally takes longer after a severe weather event.
The chart below along with the numbered explanations below it illustrates the methodical steps Lynches River Electric Cooperative takes to restore power to members if a major power outage occurs.
Damage to power plants, switchyards or transmission lines must be repaired by our power provider before we can restore your service.
- Substations are repaired first. A co-op may have several local distribution substations, each serving thousands of consumers. When a major outage occurs, the local distribution substations are checked first. If the problem can be corrected at the substation level, power may be restored to a large number of people.
- Distribution lines are repaired. Main distribution supply lines are checked next if the problem cannot be isolated at the substation. These supply lines carry electricity away from the substation to a group of customers, such as a subdivision. When power is restored at this stage, all consumers served by this supply line could see the lights come on, as long as there is no problem further down the line.
- Individual services are restored. The final supply lines, called service lines, carry power from the transformer on utility poles or underground transformers outside houses or other buildings. Line crews fix the remaining outages based on restoring service to the greatest number of consumers.
Sometimes, damage will occur on the services line between your house and the transformer on the nearby pole. This may explain why you have no power when your neighbor does. Let us know you have an outage here so we can repair it.