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Answers to Common Questions About the Ice Storm of 2005

>> 1. Why couldn't I get through to let someone know my power was out?
     There is a physical limitation to the number of calls we can take at any given time. From Saturday until midnight Tuesday, Tri-County EMC personnel answered 37,853 phone calls and made 4,199 outgoing calls, many to verify that power had been restored. During major outages, if your neighbors are without power, it is probably safe to assume that we know about your outage, at least until the initial rush of calls diminishes such that you can report it.

     2. Why did Tri-County employees drive right by my house but did not stop to get my power on?
     During the initial phase of a major outage, cooperative personnel are either scouting damage ahead of line crews or working to restore power to main lines. Crews certainly may be instructed to bypass individual "taps" or outages at single homes until power is restored to all main lines. (See "How Power is Restored" on page 4.) Throughout the outage, crews follow dispatched directions from the cooperative's control center that are part of a coordinated restoration plan. 

     3. Can't you give me an estimate of when my power will be back on?
     Under normal circumstances with isolated outages, we provide restoration estimates when possible. With major outages, such estimates are not possible. During the ice storm, limbs and trees were still falling over 24 hours into the outage. With every individual outage, every foot of every section of line had to be cleared and inspected before power could be restored. With such widespread damage and an ever changing situation, there was no way to give an estimate, other than "several days," that could have been remotely accurate. 

     4. I want to know where crews are working. Can I speak to the person coordinating the outage?
     For their safety and security, we do not give out the location of any Tri-County personnel. Crews are working where they are instructed to by the control center. Communicating with them in the field will only take them away from restoring power outages. Likewise, personnel in the control center are coordinating crews, often during hazardous situations. They are not able to talk with members reporting outage calls and safely and effectively do their job.

     5. I have a medical condition that requires me to have power. Can't you get me back on first? 
     While Tri-County EMC does offer a "Medical Priority" status (certification from a doctor is required) for residential accounts, there is little or nothing that we can do to expedite power restoration for an individual account when there may be hours or days of work required to get your main line back on. Tri-County EMC recommends that anyone with a requirement of continuous electric service should have a backup plan, whether it is a generator or transportation to a shelter or the home of someone with power.

     6. Will Tri-County pay for food I lost during an outage?
     Tri-County EMC cannot guarantee continuous electric service to any customer and is not responsible for outages due to weather, which are considered an "act of God."  <