We do our best to avoid power disruptions, but they are inevitable from time to time. Here are some key things to know about the work we do and what you can expect in an outage.
1. We need you. Ensuring you have the correct phone number on file is key so that our team can efficiently identify your account and communicate important outage updates.
2. We have high expectations. Our goal is to be onsite working to restore service within one hour, except in cases of large storms. Although every outage is different, our team is trained to work as quickly as possible to plan for restoration without compromising the integrity of service for other members.
3. Our employees might be affected, too. YEC is proud to have locals looking out for you, which means our employees share this same community. If your power is out, it is likely our power is out at home, too.
4. Our priority is safety. Our crews focus on responding first to public safety issues and critical services. Then, we complete work that impacts the largest number of members. Besides working around high voltage electricity, our crews are also often working in severe weather conditions.
5. We’re prepared for this. Aside from maintaining a five-year right-of- way trimming cycle, we invest in planning and building a resilient grid. Keeping rights-of-way trimmed allows us to safely and easily access our equipment and help prevent tree-related outages. Additionally, our smart devices allow us to isolate outages so that we can quickly restore service for members who are unaffected by the damages. Your reliability begins in the planning and construction of your service. When possible, we like to provide two different power sources, creating a loop, to serve members. This allows your co-op more flexibility in an outage situation, strengthens our grid, and creates less disruption for our members.
6. Flickering lights are sometimes a good thing. Flickering lights are not outages. These “blinks” indicate our equipment worked and prevented a possible outage.
7. You need a plan. If you depend on electricity for life support purposes, you should have a backup plan. It is also helpful to always have a supply kit to stay safe in a storm. You can learn more online in our storm center.
8. Sometimes, it’s a waiting game. Our portion of the power grid is connected to transmission lines from other utilities. If your outage is due to an issue from their equipment serving our system, we must let them do their repairs first.
9. It’s a team effort. When the power goes out, all hands are on deck to get the job done. We plan for this, and everyone goes to work to do their part to efficiently restore service, no matter the time of day or day of the year.
If you experience an outage, please let us know by calling PowerTouch, 1 (866) 374-1234, or you can text OUTAGE to 352667. As always it is our privilege to look out for you and provide you with service excellence.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Your board in action
Continued training and education for current and new board members is ongoing. To serve you with excellence, York Electric Trustees spend a great deal of time learning about industry challenges, the cooperative business model and new technologies that might benefit our members.