Enova provides safe, reliable and dependable power to customers across our service
territory, but from time-to-time, outages do happen. While most outages are brief, there can be a number of causes.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at what causes power outages and explain how they may impact you.
Extreme Weather
Severe weather is a main factor in unplanned power outages. Conditions such as high winds, ice, snow, and lightning can cause damage to electrical equipment or power lines, leading to unplanned power outages. Storms often cause damage to trees and tree limbs, which can come in contact with power lines and cause unplanned outages. That’s why we maintain a proactive tree trimming cycle throughout our service territory, keeping vegetation away from electrical equipment as much as possible.
Interference from Wildlife
Small animals, like squirrels, sometimes chew into lines or come into contact with a piece of equipment and an energized line, which results in their demise and likely a power interruption for you.
Auto-Reclosure
Auto-Reclosure (A/R) events can lead to outages lasting only a second or two. An A/R is a safety protection feature built in to protect equipment and even people. When a fault current is sensed, the station breaker will open (power goes off) for a split second to clear the fault. The station breaker automatically tries to close back in (power goes on) and if the fault has cleared, power will stay on. Lightning or tree contacts on a windy day can cause fault currents. Sadly most often, animal contacts such as squirrels or raccoons cause A/Rs. A safe and reliable electricity supply is always our priority. Even a split-second outage is frustrating. We are sorry for the inconvenience.
Planned Power Outages
Planned power interruptions may be necessary in order to make system improvements that will increase reliability in your neighbourhood. If your home or business is part of a planned outage, we’ll provide you with as much notice as possible. We hand-deliver planned outage notices to impacted properties to ensure you’re kept informed. For larger or lengthy planned outages, we will also send an email version of the notice, which includes the date, duration and location of the planned power interruption.
Where Can I Learn More?
To learn more about power outages, including emergency preparation and outage safety, visit enovapower.com/outages.
