Manager Connection: Outages

General Manager Syd Briggs

Even though the calendar says it’s spring, anyone with time spent in Minnesota knows snow and ice storms can still create havoc into the month of May.

Nevertheless, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management will be educating residents regarding Severe Weather Awareness Week, April 7-11, with a Tornado Drill Day scheduled Thursday, April 10.

As general manager, I’m accustomed to members’ questions about power outages and why it can take time to get the lights back on. Given our reliance to electricity, there’s simply never a good time to be without it.

When your power does go out, it may just be at your home or a small section of a neighborhood. We have great technology in place which, most of the time, notifies us where and when an outage exists. Many times, our members call to report an outage and we are proud to inform them we are already on the way. However, there is always a chance we may not know about it, and it is always good to report just in case. We also utilize your observations before the power went out, whether it was a loud boom, noticed lightning in your area, a fallen tree on the power line, or simply the power went out without warning.

When your power goes out, Steele-Waseca employees work together to have our line technicians get power restored as quickly and safely as possible. Every outage is different, and we don’t know how dangerous it is or what equipment may need to be replaced. When responding to outages, we first need to see what happened, what materials will be needed, and a plan to fix the problem(s) which may compromise electric service to others so our line technicians can safely get power restored.

Restoration is normally prioritized by the largest number of members we can get power restored to in the shortest amount of 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.

Besides working around high voltage electricity, our crews are on alert for wild animals, weather elements, falling trees and fast-moving vehicles. (If you ever drive past one of our trucks, please do so slowly.)

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 by wayward animals or stray tree limbs on the lines.

We do our best to help those who need it, but if you depend on electricity for life-support purposes, you must have a back-up plan—remember, we don’t always know how long restoration efforts will take.

We do our best to avoid power disruptions, but they are inevitable from time to time. If the lights go out, know your Steele-Waseca team is working as quickly and safely as possible to restore power. If you experience an outage, please let us know by calling Steele-Waseca, or use the co-op’s website or app to report, but please don’t use Facebook to report it as it won’t get into our outage management system.  

In this Sparks issue, we are recognizing our line technicians. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) is recognizing lineworkers on the second Monday in April, which this year is April 14.

Our line technicians are committed to going out in all sorts of weather conditions, day or night, and restore power when conditions or circumstances interrupt power for our members. Lineworkers also answer the call beyond the boundaries of our service area. Our crews travel to fellow co-ops, near or far, when widespread outages occur and additional support is needed. Cooperation among cooperatives is one of our seven guiding principles, and no one embodies this core commitment better than lineworkers.

• Facebook
• Link
• Mail