It is 1:00 a.m. and I woke up thinking about all the people who want you to tell them exactly when their electricity will be restored after an outage. We understand your need to know but
A) we usually don't have enough information to give you a definite time -- we get our info from listening to linemen talk to each other on the radio system and looking at stacks of paper that represent people who have called about outages in your area... and
B) if we ever gave you the wrong information about when power will be restored -- and it took a lot longer -- you wouldn't be very happy with your power company.
Someday we will have a "smart grid" that will tell us which people do not have electricity (even before they call) and it will probably show us exactly where all our red trucks are, but until then we make due. We don't have a map on our computer that shows exactly which lines are out and which lines are working – right now that comes from the stacks of paper. This "smart grid" thing will probably be in place within the next 4 years.
Even with the smart grid, outage restoration will require people. Someone has to drive the path of the power line and see why a breaker has turned the power off. The cause could be a tree branch that fell to the ground and is no longer a problem or it could be a car containing a mom and her kids who skidded off the road – who are safe because the breaker turned the power off. We don’t simply flip the switch without checking for the cause. It takes time to “run out the lines” and it takes time to make the repairs.
I really feel for the people affected by power outages... the elderly people who need oxygen concentrators and might get very cold, quickly... the mother at home with kids who have H1N1... the people with new babies that they just brought home from the hospital... the people who have livestock that need water. I relate. I empathize. I wish I could push a button and fix it but I can't. Fixing power lines isn't a fast thing. We put all our resources (skilled linemen and trucks) into place and work hard.
With that said, during large scale power outages, sometimes the decision is made to pull the crews back in before power is restored to everyone. This is not a decision taken lightly. Many linemen tell stories about connecting “just one more” before they turn back towards the shop. The decision to stop working is made when weather conditions are bad enough that we are losing more ground than we can possibly gain by continuing to work. Sometimes the decision is made because the outage is so large that crews will be working to restore power for several days or weeks and they need rest so they can safely continue. Remember that the linemen and the people answering the phones
may be going home to a dark, cold house without power.
Nobody likes power outages. Although a young lineman may be excited to work their first big storm job, major ice storms take their toll on utility employees. Dawson PPD is prepared to handle power outages. We have the training and equipment we need. And one of the most important tools is caring about you, our customers.
Marsha Banzhaf, Public Relations Coordinator
Dawson Public Power District
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