What Causes An Outage

It’s common knowledge that severe storms are major causes of many power outages. However, there are other factors at work that can cause an interruption in the flow of power from one source to another. At LCUB, we are always hard at work to protect the electric grid against these factors and provide you, our customer, with the very best service possible. 

Here are just some of the factors that can cause your power to go out: 

Storms

  • Lightning – Lightning can hit our electrical equipment, causing you to lose power. It can also strike trees, which may fall onto power lines and cause outages
  • Ice – Ice storms create a buildup of ice on power lines and on trees. The weight of the ice can cause power lines to snap or tree limbs to fall onto lines
  • Wind – High winds may cause power lines to touch and short out, resulting in an outage. Wind may also blow tree limbs or entire trees onto power lines
  • Flooding – Heavy rains can cause flooding in certain areas which can damage both above-ground and underground electrical equipment

Accidents

  • Vehicle accidents can result in broken poles, causing power lines to break or touch.

Animals

  • Small animals such as birds, squirrels and snakes climb on certain pieces of equipment, such as transformers and fuses, causing the equipment to shut down

Construction

  • Construction workers may accidentally hit overhead power lines with cranes or bucket-type equipment, or digging crews may strike and cut through underground power lines. Any of these scenarios can cause a power outage

Vegetation

  • Tree limbs and plant debris that come into contact with power lines can cause outages and power flickers. To ensure the safety and quality of service for our customers, LCUB has increased our tree trimming efforts near high voltage power lines. Crews are trimming approximately 400 miles of power lines per year in order to help with outages and flickers. For more information on LCUB’s trimming responsibilities versus your trimming responsibilities visit our Vegetation Management page.

Despite all of these forces at work, LCUB crews are always ready to be deployed when an outage is reported, and they are on the job every day to maintain reliable electric service to each and every LCUB customer. We understand that any outage, no matter how short, is frustrating. We will continue to work hard to keep your lights on bright and steady. Please help us by registering with our Outage Manage Services response system. In doing so, our system will be able to locate your address quickly if you ever find yourself without power. Call 1-844-Our-LCUB and choose option 1 to register. It only takes a minute. CLICK HERE for details.