9 Things You Might Not Know About Power Restoration

Have you ever watched a video or TV show in which a person is cooking a meal, then suddenly snaps their fingers, and the meal is plated and ready to eat? That’s called a jump cut. While we wish we could “jump cut” from a power outage to power restoration, it can often take much more effort and people to make it happen.

As the CEO of Jones-Onslow, I’m accustomed to members’ questions about power outages and why it can take time to get the lights back on. Given our reliance on electricity, there’s never a good time to be without it. This month, I’d like to shed light on our restoration process to help our members understand what may be happening behind the scenes. Here are some things you might not know about restoration:

1. We need you. When your power goes out, it might be just at your home or a small section of a neighborhood. Even though our automated metering infrastructure system alerts our operations center about potential power outages, it’s still good practice to reach out and let us know you’re experiencing a disruption in service.
2. Our employees live in the communities we serve. Because JOEMC is a local electric cooperative based in the community, our employees are local, too. They are your neighbors, friends, and familiar community volunteers. When you’re without power, our people are quick to respond. If you ever see our trucks in a restaurant parking lot while your power is out, know that sometimes our employees huddle in a safe, common area to map out their plan for getting your power back on.
3. It’s a team effort. Every employee of the co-op is working to restore your power as soon as possible. Our member services representatives take your calls, engineers and field staff survey damage, our vegetation management team clears hazards, dispatchers organize crews, and communicators keep everyone informed of progress or potential dangers. When your power goes out, we all work together quickly and safely to get you back to normal.
4. We assess the situation first. Every outage is different, and we don’t know how dangerous it is or what equipment might need to be replaced. When responding to outages, we first need to see what happened, then determine what materials we need and a plan to fix the problem(s) without compromising electric flow for the rest of our members.
5. Restoration is typically prioritized by the largest number of members we can get back on in the shortest time. Our crews focus on responding first to public safety issues and critical services like hospitals. Then, we complete work that impacts the largest number of people first.
6. Our employees face many dangers. In addition to working around highvoltage electricity, our crews are on alert for wild animals, weather elements, falling trees, and fast-moving cars. (If you ever drive past one of our vehicles, please do so slowly.)
7. Flickering lights are a good thing. Some folks mistake flickering lights for outages, but these “blinks” are important because they indicate our equipment worked and prevented a possible outage likely caused bywayward animals or stray tree limbs on the lines.
8. You need a backup plan. We do our best to help those who need it, but if you depend on electricity for life support purposes, you must have a backup plan—remember, we don’t always know how long restoration efforts will take. If you’re unsure what to do, call us so we can help you prepare an emergency location.
9. Sometimes it’s a waiting game. Our portion of the power grid is connected to other electric utilities, and we maintain positive relationships with power providers interconnected to our system. If our outage is due to an issue from their feed into our system, we must let them do their repairs and be mindful of what they’re going through to fix it.

We do our best to avoid power disruptions, but they are inevitable from time to time. If the lights go out, know that the JOEMC team is working quickly and safely to restore power. If you experience an outage, please let us know by reporting it by calling our office or online at the Outage Hub Tab at joemc.com.