Treat every downed powerline as a live wire. Stay Away from It!
During an outage, Jefferson Energy crews are working around the clock to restore power as quickly and efficiently as possible to all customers. The more severe a storm, the longer it could be to restore power. If main lines are down, then they have to be repaired before service can be restored to neighborhoods and to individual homes.
The main goal is to restore power safely to the greatest number of members in the shortest time possible. Power is not restored in the order of the reported outages. Power must be restored from the substation to the home. It cannot be restored at the home first.
Members who have a necessity of electrical service for medical equipment used in their home can be placed on a medical priority list. This status would make their households a priority for electricity restoration in the case of outages (does not apply to disconnection for non-payment) to keep medical equipment functioning. However, you should always have a backup system or plan readily available in the event power cannot be restored as quickly as you might need or expect.
To sign up for our medical priority list, a medical letter from your attending physician on the physician’s office letterhead is required. By requesting a physician to submit this medical letter, the patient is authorizing his/her physician to release information about the patient to the utility’s representatives. Call 706-547-2167 for more details.
During power outages, Jefferson Energy crews are working in the outage areas. You may see a crew ride by your house during an outage. Do not attempt to “flag them down.” If a truck is seen riding by, they are typically going to the initial location of the outage or assessing the problem to determine how they can most efficiently get power restored to the area.
If you are the only house on your street without power, then it is possible that something has fallen on the service line to your house, or the power to your house comes from a different location than your neighbors. Call Jefferson Energy to report your outage and power will be restored as quickly as possible.
If the service simply came loose from your house and no other damage was caused, the crews can restore power to your home. However, if the mast pipe, weather-head, or meter base has been pulled off your house by a falling tree, Jefferson Energy cannot restore power to your house until this is fixed. You need to contact a licensed electrician to repair this situation before power can be restored.
Many of the subdivisions in Jefferson Energy territories have underground service to homes. However, at some point, the electrical supply lines to the subdivision are overhead. If you live in a subdivision and the power is out during a storm, then the initial cause of the outage is located somewhere outside your subdivision. While issues with underground services are less likely, they can still occur.