Be Prepared for Storm Outages

It’s hard to predict the weather, but it’s easy to prepare for it. Here’s how to plan ahead for unavoidable power outages that can accompany storms:

• Listen to weather forecasts every day so you’ll know when high winds or heavy snows or ice are on the way. That kind of weather is most likely to affect power lines.
• Prepare an outage kit that contains a battery-powered radio, fresh batteries, a flashlight, candles, matches, a wind-up clock, bottled water, paper plates and plastic utensils.
• Keep a stock of canned food in your cupboard along with a manual can opener. Consider buying a camp stove and fuel that you can use (outdoors only) if you can’t cook on your electric stove.
• Tape MVEA’S phone number on your refrigerator so it will be handy if you must report an outage. Do not take it for granted that your neighbor has made the call. Your cordless phones will not work, so have a traditional phone that you can use.
• Dress in layers to stay warm during a winter outage.
• Teach children to stay away from fallen or sagging power lines. They could be energized and dangerous, even if the power is out.
• If you rely on electrically-powered life support equipment have a backup plan for power outages. It’s critical that customers using special medical equipment at home, such as respirators, consider purchasing a backup generator and/or have other contingency plans in place. They should set up plans with friends or relatives to get to a site with electricity and/or identify emergency centers at local social service agencies and churches. While MVEA strives to provide continuous electric service to customers, we cannot guarantee that occasional power outages or failures won’t occur.
• Limit freezer and refrigerator door openings during power outages. A closed refrigerator will keep food chilled for 12 hours. For extra insulation, wrap freezer in blankets or secure dry ice so items will stay frozen longer during a spring or summer outage.
• Water Supply
  • If an outage is prolonged, the lack of water becomes a real problem. You should try to store several gallons of drinking water for such emergencies.
  • Use clean glass or plastic containers. Avoid metal ones. They will oxidize and give the water an unpleasant taste. Plastic containers are preferable since they will not break.
  • Boil water before storing when you cannot sterilize the container. Water in tightly sealed containers will stay fresh indefinitely. And for an extra measure of safety, boil the water before use.
• If you use a portable generator, isolate it from our lines. If you don't have a double throw transfer switch installed, plug appliances directly into the generator using a properly sized extension cord.
• When the power comes back on, give the electric system a chance to stabilize by gradually using the appliances you turned off. Use only the most essential first and wait 10 to 15 minutes on the others, including water and space heating.
• If you clear trees on your property, don't remove those tangled in power lines. Stay away from any downed lines and notify us or call 911 immediately.
• Watch out for us. Our employees frequently work along roadsides. Please remember to slow down and be aware of utility crews. Stay away from MVEA work areas. Besides being in a hazardous area, you'll slow our crew's progress.

Our hope is that the weather will spare us; however, if we do have outages, we will restore your service as quickly as possible. We also strive to keep our website up to date on the outage situation so be sure to check it (if possible) for outage information.