Planned Outages

Most planned outages are scheduled well in advance. Crews will be scheduled to do the work on a specific day and time. This type of planned outage is necessary to safely improve reliability in the area. An example would be a pole that needs to be replaced to prevent an unplanned outage from occurring in the future

Some outages are required to make emergency repairs. This type of outage needs to happen right away, likely within the hour, for the safety of crews, customers and the electrical system. An example would be a broken pole cause by a vehicle accident.

To ensure our electrical system remains safe and reliable for our customers, it requires regular maintenance, and planned outages are typically scheduled in advance so we can work safely on our system. The work may include emergency repairs, system upgrades, maintenance and other work on our electrical equipment.

To do this work safely, we must temporarily disconnect power to a section of the powerline, which usually means an outage for some customers.

By doing this kind of planned work, our crews can help prevent a potential unplanned outage that can often be longer and more disruptive to our customers.

We take a variety of factors into consideration when scheduling a date or time for planned outages. This includes safety of the public and our crews, weather conditions, availability of specialized crews and equipment, community events, and the impact to critical infrastructure and services. We try our best to find a time when it’s less disruptive for our customers.

We aim to inform customers of a planned outage 24 to 48 hours in advance—in some cases, a week in advance—with an automated phone message. To do this, it’s very important we have your up-to-date contact information to ensure you receive the planned outage notification. If you have a new phone number, please call Customer Care at 1-800-428-6230 to update your account or fill out this online form.

We also list impactful planned outages (long outages or those in busy areas) on our website and sometimes post them on our Twitter channel, if necessary, based on outage size and duration.

If an emergency repair is needed immediately, we may not be able to provide notice. Once the outage begins, it will appear on the outage map with the reason for the interruption and the estimated time of restoration.

Most of the work must be done during daylight hours to keep our customers and crews safe. By doing this kind of planned work, our crews can help prevent a potential unplanned outage that can often be longer and more disruptive to our customers.

We work to keep the scheduled date of a planned outage in place, but cancellations can occur due to adverse weather conditions or crew constraints if emergencies occur.