Power Outages

BE PREPARED FOR WINTER STORMS

Living in a rural area with a harsh winter climate means we need to be prepared for anything. Here are some things you can do ahead to make sure you are prepared if a winter storm interrupts your power:

Keep on hand a flashlight, a supply of candles, a portable radio and fresh batteries.
Store some fresh water if you have a well.
Stock up on canned food and have a manual can opener handy.
Have a plan for where you will go if the outage is long and your house gets too cold, particularly if you have older people or young children in your household, since they are especially vulnerable to hypothermia. Know the symptoms of hypothermia.
Make sure that you have at least one phone that will work without electricity. Many portable phones or phones with other accessories need electricity to work. It is important to be able to make a phone call during an outage or emergency.

If you do lose your electricity, call us. We want to know. Unless an entire circuit goes down, we usually don't know about an outage until customers begin to call. We'll get your power back on as soon as we can.

Until we are able to restore your power, avoid opening your refrigerator or freezer. Turn off all your appliances and all but one or two lights. (Seeing lights come on will signal our crews that your power has been restored.) And most importantly, if you see a line down, DON'T TOUCH IT! Most electrical lines outside your home are not insulated and you can't tell by looking at it whether or not it is "live." Touching one -- or touching an object that's in contact with the line -- could kill you. Even the earth near the wire may conduct electricity and can harm you. Keep everyone away and call GMP immediately.

SAFETY:

IF YOU USE A GENERATOR, PLEASE INSTALL IT SAFELY

Some people are buying generators to run essential equipment in their home or business during a power outage. If you are considering a generator, there are a couple of extremely important things you should know about installing it. If the generator is not vented properly, it could release poisonous gas into your home that could kill you. In addition, if your generator is not isolated from GMP lines with a transfer switch, you could inadvertently send electricity back out over the lines, possibly killing a lineworker who believes that the line does not carry electricity.

If you have bought or plan to buy a generator, please hire an electrician to make sure that your generator is installed correctly. It is a matter of life and death for you, your family and the workers who restore power to your home.

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