There are many different reasons why an outage may occur, but the majority of non-company power interferences come from fallen trees and branches during storms. Having a well-maintained right-of-way decreases these types of outages. Therefore your EMC has an ongoing plan that keeps your power lines free of limbs and tall growing brush. Please help your EMC by allowing this necessary tree trimming on your property. If you are in the planting mood, try to plant new trees well away from power lines (at least 30 feet) to avoid problems in the future.

Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done to decrease the number of outages caused by nature, vehicle/equipment accidents or fires. Customers can help with what we call "customer problem" outages. These are outages on the consumer side of the meter, meaning that a check of the circuit breaker most likely will fix the problem. An outage summary is featured below.

Lightning: Caused by thunderstorms
Wind: Caused by storms
Snow and Ice: Caused by winter storms
Trees Inside Right-of-Way: Trees planted too close to power lines
Squirrels or Other Animals on Lines: Caused by animals on the line
Vehicles: Running into poles; accidents
Fires: Home/Business or brush burning
Consumer Problems: Tripped breakers
Unknown: Some outages are caused by unknown reasons