Electric Outage FAQ
Electric Outage FAQ
Some basics include:
- Make sure any sensitive electronic equipment, such as a computer or television, has a surge protector to prevent damage.
- Keep an emergency preparedness kit handy with items such as batteries, a flashlight, and a battery-powered radio – this can be helpful for situations beyond a power outage! Suggestions for a complete emergency kit can be found on the Department of Homeland Security’s ready.gov site.
- Cell phone auxiliary battery chargers are valuable during an outage, because wall chargers for a phone will not work without power to the home.
- Have a tree contractor trim back any branches that are near power lines to keep your electricity from being knocked out by a broken limb. Make sure to use a city-licensed tree contractor.
Winter can be an especially difficult time to lose power. Make sure to review our tips on how to prepare for a winter outage, and what to do when a winter outage hits.
In a life-threatening medical emergency, call 911 for assistance. Any customer who must have electricity should have an emergency backup plan, such as deciding on an alternate location to go to or having a battery backup for important medical devices. Please make sure you enroll in LPC’s Medical Alert Program, which will let us know which customers need power restored as soon as possible because of a medical situation. As with all our customers, we’ll also let you know when there will be any planned electric outages for maintenance.
If we do, it’s because they’re either checking lines and evaluating the situation, or because work needs to be done elsewhere before we can turn your power back on. Our crews are focused on restoring everyone’s power as quickly as possible.
As we make our repairs, we start with locations that will restore power to as many customers as possible, as quickly as possible, and then continue until all customers have been turned back on.
The two most likely reasons are that either your home is connected to a different power line or electric substation, or that your outage is actually due to a tripped circuit breaker in your home. For advice on the second, see our tips under “How can I get my power on?”
Yes, but be careful. A backup generator can be handy to have for emergencies, but make sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions and also look over our basic safety tips for generators.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, if the door stays closed, refrigerated food will typically be fine for about four hours. In a full freezer, frozen food can stay safe for two days without power if the door isn’t opened. Check the department’s site for ways to protect and check your food safety in an outage.
Our crews typically resolve an outage in 60 minutes or less, but every outage is unique and some will take longer to identify and repair than others. On widespread outages, updated information will be posted to our Facebook page.
If an outage affects a large number of customers, we will post information to the Longmont Power & Communications Facebook page.
Many residential outages are due to a tripped circuit breaker and easily resolved without a service call. To check:
- Go to the room or rooms that have lost power, turn off the lights, and unplug any items that use electricity, such as your lamps or computer.
- Find your electrical panel – it’s usually in your basement, utility room, garage, or attached to the outside of your home.
- Make sure your hands are dry and that you’re standing on a dry surface, and then check the panel for a circuit breaker that has moved to the “off” position, or is halfway between “off” and “on.” Move that breaker all the way to “off” and then back to “on” to restore the circuit.
- Go back to the affected room, plug an item back in and turn it on to test the circuit and see if the power is working again. Some outlets may have a “test” and “reset” button; if so, push the test button and then the reset button before plugging anything into them. These outlets automatically shut off power when they detect an electrical hazard, and need to be reset before they can be used again.
- If the circuit for an area goes back out after you turn everything back on, you may have too many devices on the circuit. Spacing out appliances and devices is a good way to protect against overloads.
If your power remains out, please call us at 303-776-0011 or 303-651-8386 to report it. If electrical equipment attached to your home has been damaged, it may be the owner’s responsibility to have it repaired. All repairs should be made by a certified electrician.
It’s very likely, but please do call! Our systems allow us to remotely monitor the status of Longmont’s electric network and to quickly track down most outages, but small ones that only affect a few customers may not trigger an alert. Please call us at 303-776-0011 or 303-651-8386 to report your outage; your information helps us restore your service faster.
LPC customers can always call our outage line at 303-776-0011 or our main office line at 303-651-8386. Our call center enables customers to report outages 24 hours a day, even on the weekends or holidays.
Extended outages are rare for Longmont Power & Communications; our electric system has an average service availability of nearly 99.999%. As a precaution, you may choose to use a battery backup (available through most office supply and consumer electronics retailers) to keep your Digital Voice telephone service working – including your 911 emergency service – during an outage. If you choose not to use a battery backup, or are unable to, we urge you to keep other options available for 911 service in an emergency, such as a cell phone.
Remember, if the power does go out, call the LPC outage line at 303-776-0011 or the main office at 303-651-8386 so we can work to restore your power as soon as possible.
