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In storm situations, the answer to this question is not always readily available when you call because of things beyond Mountain Parks Electric’s control. Our ability to provide accurate outage restoration time information is influenced by the size of the outage, amount of power line damage, location of your home, safety concerns, and other factors. Outage Size – In the case of a small outage that affects only a few MPEI members, we are often able to tell you when power will be restored because we can get to the problem quickly. Unfortunately, that isn’t possible immediately after a big storm hits and leaves lines down at hundreds of locations across our 4 county service area. Amount of Damage – The length of an outage can vary from the relatively short time it takes to replace a power line fuse blown out by lightning to tree-related damage that can knock out power for many hours. Crews sometimes cannot get to an outage location without first removing trees and limbs from their path. Additional time is required to cut up and remove other trees and limbs covering the downed lines. If a broken pole is found, repairs are delayed further until a new pole can be hauled to the site. Home Location – the route electricity takes within our distribution system to reach your home begins at the substations that supply power to the main distribution feeders or “trunk” lines. The trunk lines feed power to hundreds of secondary circuits or taps that serve smaller groups of members. During a major storm, your home’s location along this route often determines how long it will take to restore your electricity. Crews repair damages to the transmission lines, substations and trunk lines first. This is a strategy that allows us to restore power to the greatest number of members in the shortest amount of time. It often takes the same amount of time to remove trees and restore power for 1,000 people as it does for 10. If you live on a line that serves only a handful of members, it is possible that you may experience a longer wait for the lights to come back on after a big storm. Although the outage problem outside your home may only require two hours to repair, it could be several hours before crews get to your home in a storm situation. The time it takes line workers to reach you is based on the number of other outage locations they must visit, the number of members affected at the other locations, and accessibility to these trouble areas. Safety Concerns – Hazards created by damaged power lines, such as pole fires or live wires lying across roadways, are addressed as quickly as possible. Restoration of power for emergency public services such as hospitals, police, and fire and ambulance protection is also a high priority. Although every effort is made to promptly restore power to members on life-support equipment, long outages are still possible after a major storm. We recommend members have backup generation available at their homes if a prolonged outage poses a threat to their welfare. Other Factors – We maintain over 1700 miles of power lines over much of north central Colorado. When a major storm hits the mountains, it’s bound to impact any or all of our service area. Changing weather conditions affect restoration efforts, such as icy, snow-covered roads that make travel difficult even for our big vehicles. Line worker help from neighboring utilities and contractors is sometimes limited if widespread storm damage creates statewide outages. During 2006, the average MPEI customer outage duration was 5.05 hours per year. Mountain Parks Electric is here to serve its members with the most reliable electric service possible. Visit our website at www.mpei.com or contact us at 970-887-3378. Power Restoration Priorities It is important to note that we follow these steps in the order shown above. If we were to deviate from that order, it would increase the amount of time required to get the lights back on for everyone. Using the diagram above, let’s assume the first repair is made to the individual service to house 3. The result is that the home would still be without power until the tree damage on the main distribution line and tap line ahs been addressed first.
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