Outage Tips for Businesses
Our top priority is delivering safe, reliable electricity – we know how important it is to your business. However, sometimes weather, accidents and other unforeseen conditions can cause power outages.
Outage preparation tips
- Develop a readiness plan to ensure you and your employees are set to respond if an outage occurs. As part of your plan:
- Mark the location of your electrical supply panels and note how to turn off power.
- Label equipment power switches to find them more easily in an outage. Identify outage procedures for all critical equipment:
- Computers – Plug computers into quality surge protectors. Install automatic backup programs and battery back-up systems.
- Cash registers – Have a calculator or other nonelectrical option on hand.
- Electronic door locks – Check that electronic locks can be manually bypassed.
- Mark the location of your electrical supply panels and note how to turn off power.
- Store extra supplies, including flashlights, batteries, ready-to-eat foods, battery-powered radio and bottled water.
- Keep emergency lighting in good working order.
- Consider back-up power. Your business might benefit if the financial impact of losing power to critical functions and equipment is significantly greater than the expense of buying and installing a back-up power system. If you decide to use a generator, please use it safely following the manufacturer's recommendations.
If the power goes out
- Before you call us, check for a tripped breaker or blown fuse to determine if the cause of the outage. Look for lights at nearby businesses to see if they are affected.
- If it's not a breaker or fuse, sign in to report the outage online or call toll free at 1-877-508-5088. If you are not calling from a phone number we have on record, you may be asked to input your account number. If you have more than one account, you will be directed to a customer service agent.
- When you report an outage, you’ll have the option to receive outage updates.
- Turn off all electrical equipment to prevent overloading the circuits — and the company’s electrical system — when power is restored. Pay special attention to:
- Motorized equipment – Since motorized equipment can draw considerable amounts of power at start up, switch off to reduce the electrical load when power comes back on.
- Refrigeration – Keep refrigerators and freezers closed to reduce spoilage (food can last two days).
- Ventilation – Do not use machinery if ventilation or fire suppression systems are not operating.
- Stay safe. If there are downed power lines outside your facility, call us or 911 immediately and keep everyone away.
- When the power returns, if your lights are very dim or are unusually bright, turn off the power at your electrical supply panel or fuse box and call us again.
- Call us if power comes back on at nearby businesses but not yours.
