Storm Center
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions About Power Restoration
Q. What are Flint's priorities for service restoration?
A. First, Flint will work around the clock until
service is restored, though daylight hours are needed for most
activities. Safety of personnel and the public will remain our highest
priority. The priorities are:
- Assessing the overall system and repairing power plants, major
lines and substations that carry power from plants to communities.
- Restoring power to key services essential to community safety,
health and welfare - such as hospitals, police, fire, communications
and water, sanitary and transportation providers.
- Making repairs to electrical facilities that will return
service to the largest number of customers in the shortest period of
time, then the next largest number and so on until power is returned to
everyone.
- Keep in mind ... For the safety of our repair crews, Flint
Energies will halt efforts to restore electric service when winds reach
35 miles per hour. As soon as the storm has passed, damage assessment to
the Flint Energies system will be the first priority. This way, when
repair crews begin work, essential customers and services will get
attention first, followed by efforts to restore service to large groups
of customers before individual homes or businesses are scheduled.
Please be patient and call 1-800-354-6836 to report an
outage. Flint Energies will provide service restoration updates to local
newspapers, radio, television to keep everyone informed of our
progress.
Q. Do politicians, employees, other important individuals get special attention?
A. No. Flint does not give preferential treatment. It
is contrary to our storm restoration plan and company policy to single
out any individual for priority electric service restoration. Work is
not assigned according to when customers report their outage, where they
live or the status of their account.
Q. How does Flint determine who has lost service and what repairs are needed?
A. We make an initial damage assessment of our system
by observation. These initial observations help us understand the
repairs that may need to be made to key facilities like transmission
lines, substations and main power lines before we can begin the
restoration process for customers. After the initial assessment and once
it's safe for our employees to begin work we dispatch patrol teams to
conduct neighborhood-by-neighborhood assessments. These teams report
electrical equipment damage and what repairs may be needed.
Q. How will fallen trees near power lines be handled?
A. One of our top priorities will be to remove trees
and debris that have damaged electrical equipment and are preventing
service restoration. Customers should not attempt to remove or trim
foliage within 10 feet of a power line. If a tree or tree limbs have
fallen on a power line or pulled it down, do not attempt to get close to
the line. If the line is sparking, call Flint at 1-800-354-6836
and report a downed line. Safety should always be your first priority
when pruning. Look up. Be especially careful when working with a ladder,
scaffold, pole or tree in your yard. Do not do any trimming near a
power line.
Q. What precautions should I take if I'm returning to a home or business that has been flooded?
A. If you have any doubts about the integrity of your
home or office electrical system as a result of flooding, check with
local officials or a licensed electrician.
- Do not stand in water when operating switches, plugging in or unplugging appliances or resetting breakers or replacing fuses.
- Do not attempt to reset breakers or replace fuses until all
water has receded. Use caution. Some circuits above the flood level may
still be energized.
- Disconnect all electrical appliances before attempting to
reset breakers or replace fuses. Be sure to wear dry shoes with rubber
soles and stand on something dry and non-conductive, such as a dry piece
of wood or wooden furniture.
- Use a dry and non-conductive "tool" such as a wooden stick or
piece of PVC pipe in one hand when resetting breakers. Place the other
hand behind your back. Do not make contact with the metal breaker box
and other grounded objects in the area.
- Call a licensed electrician if breakers will not reset and
continue to trip. This condition might indicate a short circuit in your
electrical system.
- Check for water damage in all appliances and make sure cords
and other parts are dry before re-plugging them into wall sockets.
- Disconnect an appliance immediately if a breaker trips, a fuse
blows, or you see smoke or smell a burning odor. Have it checked by a
qualified appliance serviceman.
Q. Why would Flint crews pass my house without repairing anything?
A. If you see a Flint crew passing but not stopping, it
may be because work at a nearby location must be performed before
electric service can be restored to you and your neighbors.
Q. Why am I the only house on the block without power?
A. Fuses or circuit breakers in your home could have
tripped and halted power, tree limbs could have fallen on the line
serving your home, fuses on the transformer that serves your home may
have tripped or could be damaged, and the primary line feeding the
transformer could be damaged.
Q. Can I pay an electrician to change my Flint service wires or cables?
A. No. Electricians are not allowed to work on Flint
lines from the pole or transformer to your house. Your electrician
handles work that needs to be done from the meter to inside the house,
including your circuit breakers and home wiring.
Q. Why do I only have electricity in one part of my house?
A. You could have a tripped circuit breaker, a blown
fuse or a broken connector or wire at one of the service leads to your
house. Sometimes damage to these leads leaves only the 120-volt outlets
(or some of them) working. In this case, larger appliances that need
240-volt service such as water heaters, air conditioning and ovens may
be inoperable until repairs are made. It is safe to use the outlets you
have available, while you check with an electrician. If its a problem
with a service lead to your home, Flint crews will repair the wires when
they arrive to restore service.
Q. The electrical service line from the pole to my house appears to be pulled away from the house. What should I do?
A. Flint personnel will be inspecting service lines and
will determine if an electrician is required to fix the damage or if
Flint can make repairs. Piping that houses wires attached to the side of
your home or business is considered part of the house wiring and can
only be worked on by a licensed electrician.
Q. Why are my electric motors or machines running backward?
A. Turn off the machinery immediately and call Flint. A
technician will determine whether electric power phases were connected
properly.
Q. If my lights come on, can I expect them to stay on?
A. Once service is restored, we make every effort to
keep it on; however, as we repair other parts of our system, some
interruptions may occur.
Q. What are the vulnerabilities of underground and overhead electric service?
A. Overhead lines are exposed to high winds and flying
debris. Underground facilities can be subject to flooding. Repair and
replacement time is about the same for equipment with similar functions.
Repairs may take longer if an underground fault needs to be located and
repaired.
Q. How will Flint restore streetlights and traffic signals?
A. Traffic signals will be prioritized at the request
of the city or county that owns or maintains them. City or county
workers may need to repair or replace damaged traffic signals and
streetlights they own before Flint can re-energize lines that power
them.
Q. Are there some general expectations
regarding how long restoration might take following a severe storm or
hurricane? What kind of situations could prolong the effort?
A. Restoration will depend in part on how many cities
and counties are significantly impacted. Flint's service territory
covers 16 counties and 6,200 miles of line. If large steel transmission
lines are damaged it can take weeks to repair. Resetting poles are the
most time-consuming restoration process.