Whenever there is a power outage, our primary goal is to restore your power…quickly and safely.
We have operational procedures in place to organize the restoration process, as well as communication procedures to disseminate information to radio stations, television and newspapers to keep you informed. You can also find outage updates within the “outage updates” section of Lake Country Power’s web site.
The following steps briefly explain how power is restored in electric distribution systems:
1. First, we look at public safety. For example, we send our crews to remove power lines from roadways before anything else. High-voltage transmission lines must be repaired first. These lines belong to Great River Energy, LCP's wholesale power supplier. In some cases, Minnesota Power transmission lines feed into LCP's substations as well. These two utilities are responsible for transmission repairs.
2. We restore power to the substations next, if necessary. (Lake Country Power maintains 45 substations within 10,000 square miles of service area. A substation is an electrical facility containing equipment for controlling the flow of electricity from supplier to user.) Restoring power at the substation level often restores power to most members. If you see our line trucks pass by your home and you’re out of power, please know our crews are working to restore your power in chronological order. Think of power restoration like the parts of a tree. If the root system is dead, the rest of the tree won’t have life. The same is true for power restoration. If the substation is out, no one has power and this must be repaired first.
3. Next, major distribution feeders are repaired. These are lines that come out of a substation and are connected to a pole along a cross arm. If these lines are down, individual homes can’t get power.
4. Tap lines are repaired next. These are lines that carry power to groups of homes from distribution feeders. If your neighbor’s lights come on while yours remain out after the tap line is repaired, it could mean there is still damage to your individual line and you should call Lake Country Power at 800-421-9959 to report the problem.
5. Finally, individual service lines are repaired.
In the event of after-hours power outages, the outage restoration process would be the same as listed above. Call 800-421-9959.
Everyone’s goal is zero power outages. But unfortunately, given our weather and difficult terrain, that’s not always possible. We appreciate your patience as we respond to your service interruption.
