Severe Weather Preparations for Utility Customers and Electricity Providers

Your utility company does their best to build and maintain a robust power grid that will stand up to any kind of inclement weather. Inevitably, Mother Nature finds a way to cook up a hurricane or ice storm that brings down transmission cables and forces power plants to shut down. Public utilities follow specific protocols designed to restore power for as many people as possible as soon as possible. Just as important, electric companies make preparations when extreme weather is on the way. Homeowners are also advised to take simple precautions to prevent damage to their home or personal property.

Cold weather brings a number of hazards for electric infrastructure. Harsh winter storms can load wires with pound after pound of heavy ice. If the tensile strength of the electric cable is exceeded, the cable could snap, leaving a live wire dangling in the air or lying on the ground. Should the structural integrity of the brackets that keep the cables on the power poles be compromised. The harsh winter winds only make things worse, adding still more strain to the situation. While it's true that some regions seldom receive significant snowfall, it's not out of the question for even the most unexpected places to receive an inch or two. (For example, at one point during the winter of 2011, there was at least some snow covering each state of the Union…except for Florida.)

Probably the biggest concern of the power company is to make sure that the electric supply is not interrupted during a big storm. For many people, a blackout is far more than an inconvenience. If you rely upon a medical device to keep you alive, a power interruption is a big deal. Further, diabetics need to keep their insulin refrigerated. This becomes a big problem if the power's out and you don't have a backup generator.

In order to keep the power flowing, utilities will line up backup power capacity. Elizabeth Souder, a staff writer for the Dallas News, reported that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) took this precaution before a February 2011 storm that caused severe problems in many places in West Texas. Unfortunately, an earlier storm required ERCOT (the state agency charged with maintaining the Texas Interconnect) to institute rolling blackouts throughout the area. While these blackouts are an unpleasant disruption, they're better than the alternative. It's better to have your Texas electricity during most of the day than none of it.

During that February 2 event, more than fifty Texas power plants went offline. According to Reeve Hamilton, who recapped the incident for The Texas Tribune, this resulted in a loss of over 7,000 megawatts of Texas electricity. A week later, 3,000 megawatts of generation capacity remained offline.

Utilities often hire extra repair crews when inclement weather is on the way. If regular crews are overwhelmed, men and women from will come to the scene, sometimes from as far away as other states. Falling tree branches are another big concern; utilities periodically send work crews out to trim branches to prevent the problems they may cause in the future.

As a homeowner, you can't control what happens to power plants or lines hundreds of miles away. There are, however, steps that you can take to protect your home appliances and reduce the overall strain on the regional energy grid. Most importantly, you can take steps to keep you and your family safe during the next blackout, whenever it may be. Dave Rongey, an electrical contractor, urges you to stock your freezer with plastic containers filled with ice. There are two benefits to this tip. First, having a quantity of ice in your freezer means that the appliance doesn't have to work so hard to stay cold, saving you money. Second, if there's a blackout, the containers of ice will keep your frozen food cold and may save you from having to throw out perfectly good food.

Cordless land-line phones may not work without power. Rongey advises you to keep an old-fashioned telephone on hand so you can make calls in the event of an emergency. Obviously, you should have an emergency kit prepared, but you won't be able to find it if you keep your flashlights and candles hidden. Your fully-charged flashlight should be kept in a place that is easily accessible to all members of the family.

When power is restored, there is a small risk that your home's electric system will be overloaded. During the blackout, unplug all of your appliances. Once everything is back to normal, plug in appliances one by one to make sure you're not excessively taxing your energy supply.

Trying to cope with the effects of Mother Nature's wrath can be somewhat trying, for the individual and those who oversee the power grid. That preparation, however, can minimize electric down time and prevent loss of life and property damage.