Frequently Asked Question About Power Outages

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When you lose electrical power to your home, your first concern is when will it come back on. Restoration of power is determined by a variety of factors -- the cause of the outage (weather, broken tree limbs, traffic accident, etc.), the result of the cause (downed power line, blown transformer, etc.), the number of outages in the area, and so on. Below, we have provided answers to several questions that you may have asked yourself during a power outage.

1. Why is my power out, but my neighbor’s is on?
2. How does CPS Energy decide whose power is restored first?
3. Why can’t I get an estimate of how long it will be before my power is restored?
4. Why does my neighborhood have outages every time the wind blows?

1. Why is my power out, but my neighbor’s is on?

There are several possibilities. You may be on different circuits, OR you could have damage to the line, transformer, fuse or switch that serves your home, but your neighbor’s is fine.

2. How does CPS Energy decide whose power is restored first?

Crews are sent to repair large outages first. Restoring a down circuit can bring 1,200 to 2,500 customers back at once. Once major circuits are restored, crews are moved to working smaller outages, that affect tens of customers.

3. Why can’t I get an estimate of how long it will be before my power is restored?

With an outage event like this, crews move quickly from call to call. They assess damage at the scene and make repairs or call for additional equipment or manpower, depending on the problem. A fuse can take a few minutes to repair; a transformer can take a couple of hours to replace.

4. Why does my neighborhood have outages every time the wind blows?

The short answer is trees. If you live in older neighborhoods, with big trees, you’re more likely to experience big outages AND momentary interruptions in service.