When there's an outage, we know you want to know why and when your lights will be back on. Our crews follow a series of steps to get power restored as quickly as safely possibly. First they restore power to the largest number of members then work on smaller groups of outages.

When an outage occurs, crews work to find the problem. They start with transmission lines, which supply power to thousands of members. Although these lines rarely fail, when damage does occur, those repairs must be made before other parts of the system can operate.

Next, crews check the substation. These fenced in areas, which you probably notice on the side of the roads when you travel, contain equipment that helps us serve hundreds or thousands of members.

If the problem isn’t located in a substation, distribution lines are checked. These lines take power from the substation to a large number of members in neighborhoods and communities.

If there are still local outages, supply lines (or tap lines) are checked. These lines deliver power to transformers, which are either mounted on poles or placed in green boxes for underground service, outside businesses, homes, and schools.

If your home remains without power after all these are checked, the service line between a transformer and your home may need to be repaired.

Sometimes restoring power takes more than just our crews. For example, if the damage is in the substation or on the transmission lines, those are typically owned by generation utilities and we will need to work with those crews to make repairs.

Keep in mind that outages are usually the result of bad weather, animals, vehicle accidents or other things out of our control. Sometimes we must have planned outages to safely make upgrades or repairs to equipment. Whatever the cause of the outage, know that Medina EC is working to get power restored quickly. You can sign your account up to receive outage alerts and learn more about outages at MedinaEC.org/Outages.