Be Prepared During an Outage!

Unplanned or emergency storm-related or accident-caused power outages normally last only a few minutes. The average Idaho Power customer is without power less than two hours during an entire year. But sometimes outages can extend to hours or even days.

In an emergency you need to know how to protect your health and home if electricity is suddenly unavailable. Common sense planning and careful preparation will help you avoid problems and inconveniences.

Here are several things you can do to stay safe and comfortable in the event of an outage:

• It’s important to have an outage kit available if the power goes out. Your kit should include the following:

1. Matches
2. Candles
3. A flashlight
4. Extra blankets
5. A battery-powered radio
6. Batteries
7. Bottled water
8. Canned and dried foods
9. A manual can opener
10. A wind-up clock or battery-powered clock
11. A telephone that does not depend on electricity

• Don’t leave candles unattended and keep them away from furniture, draperies and other flammable materials.
• Turn off electric ranges or space heaters during a power outage. This will prevent the possibility of a fire if you are away from your home when power is restored.
• Keep a large block of ice in the freezer to maintain cold longer, and avoid opening refrigerator and freezer doors to retain cold air inside and keep your food from spoiling.
• If doors are kept closed on refrigeration equipment, cool temperatures can be maintained for several hours. Dry ice can be used to protect the contents during extremely long outages. Use gloves when handling dry ice and use caution not to place it directly on the contents.

Avoid Delays Getting Your Power Restored!

There also are several things you can do to help avoid delays getting power restored:

• Turn off all appliances, machinery and equipment in use when the power goes out, (including the furnace/air conditioner) except for one light. When this light comes on, it will be your signal power has been restored. Turning off everything else will help protect your appliances against voltage fluctuations that may happen if a circuit overloads when power is restored.
• Once power has been restored, wait 30 minutes and begin turning home appliances and lighting back on in 10-minute intervals. These precautions help circuits from overloading when power is restored. Such precautions will allow larger sections of power lines to be energized and facilitate a faster and less complicated power restoration.
• Unprotected equipment should be unplugged, or the circuit breaker shut off until power is restored.
• Energizing one breaker or fuse (or large piece of equipment) at a time and ensuring the equipment is functioning properly before moving to the next breaker or fuse provides additional protection for your equipment.

Stay informed if the power goes out!

It is very important to check your breakers and call Idaho Power if you are experiencing a power outage. You can report an outage or get information about outages by calling us toll-free at 1-800-488-6151 or 208-388-2323 in the Treasure Valley. Just say “outage” at the friendly voice prompt.

This line will give you updated outage information and/or you can verify we’re aware of the outage in your area. If you are reporting an outage, our customer service representatives will ask you for the following information:

1. Your name, your business’ name (if applicable), address and telephone number
2. The approximate time power was interrupted
3. If the entire area is without power, or just your business or home
4. If you saw or heard anything unusual when the power went out
5. If you can see any power lines on the ground

• Another source for information about major outages is listening to local radio or going to www.idahopower.com if you have access through a cell phone or other mobile device.
• The public will be notified as quickly as possible in the event of a major, prolonged outage, including information on how long it’s expected to last.
• Idaho Power will initiate public communications via radio, TV and newspaper news organizations and this website.

Remember: It’s possible for one customer’s power to be out, but a neighbor across the street still have electric service. This is because different customers can receive power from different feeders.

A feeder is an overhead or underground electrical line that supplies power to a combination of residential and/or commercial customers within a given geographical area. Feeders do not necessarily align with streets, neighborhoods or community boundaries. Two different feeders can easily serve one street. A feeder can serve anywhere from under 100 to more than 1,000 customers.

Rotational Outages

Supplying you with reliable, responsible electricity requires balancing the supply and demand of energy from our complex electrical grid. Occasionally, rotational outages—emergency outages—are necessary when usage is extremely high or equipment fails.

A rotational outage is an outage caused by a power supply shortage, loss of a generating facility or loss of a major transmission line. Rotational outages generally last about two hours, depending on circumstances. The tips above also apply during a rotational outage.