Power Outage
It’s difficult, perhaps almost impossible in some cases, to live without electricity in today’s world. That’s why Red River Valley Co-op Power does everything possible to keep the lights on and to restore service as soon as possible. By being prepared and informed, you can assist us in restoring power in the timeliest manner possible.
What causes outages?
Storms, high winds, lightning, ice on power lines, traffic accidents, digging, animals interfering with substation equipment and more can all cause outages.
Red River Valley Co-op Power’s phones are answered 24/7. When the office is closed, a highly qualified dispatcher takes your call and reports the outage to appropriate crews. In the event of a widespread outage during non-business hours, office personnel are called in to answer phones. Should you find the phone lines busy, please be patient. We will answer your call as promptly as possible.
Call Red River Valley Co-op Power at 1-800-788-7784 for 24-hour outage repair.
How can I be prepared for an outage?
- Make sure you have at least one good flashlight. Better yet, make sure there’s a flashlight on every floor of your home and one for each family member. Make sure the batteries are fresh.
- Place Red River Valley Co-op Power’s (800) 788-7784 outage number and your fire number near your telephone.
- Have a battery-powered radio with the appropriate batteries ready. If the outage is a lengthy one, radio reports will be issued regularly.
Important: If you or someone you know depends on electrically operated medical equipment, coordinate an emergency plan with friends and relatives. Have back-up power if you need it and make sure the power company is aware of your situation so they can flag your account and put you on a priority power restoration list when possible.
What to Do if Your Power Goes Out
- Wait a few minutes to see if the power will come on by itself.
- It it does not, call your neighbors to see if they are off too.
- If they are off too, report that when you call your Cooperative about the outage.
- If your neighbors are not out of power, check your fuses or circuit breakers both in the house and on the meter pole (if you have fuses and breakers there). This is an important step because if you call the Cooperative and the problem causing the outage is on your side of the meter, you will be billed for the service call. Calls after regular business hours will be billed at overtime service call rates.
- If the fuses or breakers are good, report the outage by calling (800) 788-7784. You will be asked for your meter number, your full name and the name we have on our records for the account. If you have some idea what may have caused the outage, please give this information also.
It is also important to report an outage during or after a major storm, even if you think the Cooperative should know of your outage. Be patient, but check back after a couple hours if the power hasn’t been restored.
During business hours the 800 number will connect you with the Halstad office. Regular business hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, except on holidays. After business hours, the 800 number will connect you with our dispatch service who will contact the lineman on call.
Getting the Lights Back On
When Red River Valley Co-op Power experiences multiple power outages, its goal is to restore service to the greatest number of consumers in the shortest amount of time. Linemen begin at the power source and work their way out to the individual services. Dangerous problems, such as downed power lines, are repaired as soon as possible.
The substation is the first location the repair crew checks. A substation is the power source for a particular geographic area. Sometimes service to these customers can be restored immediately by replacing a fuse on the substation transformer or switching the feed and isolating the damaged line.
Linemen then work their way out on the main distribution line, restoring service to the main feeder lines, then lines serving groups of homes and finally, individual consumers. Fixing the power at an individual home first is useless if the main line is dead – no electricity would flow into the home anyway. By repairing the main line first, many more people would have their power restored.
The diagram above shows that Step 1 should be repairing the main distribution line from the substation. Since there is no additional damage leading to buildings A or B, this would automatically restore their power. In Step 2, the problem with the tap line leading off the main line would be cleared up. This would restore power to buildings C & D.
After the high voltage lines are repaired, power to individual members (house E in the diagram) would be restored (Step 3). The entire system would then be in good working order.
