FAULTS & EMERGENCY REPORTS 1-877-310-4937
Loss of Power Supply - What to do Guide
During times when the Power goes out, here at the Control Centre we are usually flooded with customer enquiries from people calling to let us know that the Power is off. In many cases we are already aware of the outage and have a restoration plan in progress. But nonetheless, we appreciate those first calls to assist us in identifying the areas affected.
As you will appreciate our priority is to get power back on as quickly as possible. Given the massive volume of calls we need to handle, it may sometimes be difficult to speak with you directly, and it would help us (and you) greatly to get power back on if we can speak to people who have specific information about faults as quickly as possible. You can help in this process, by hanging up after you've heard the outage information for your area, this will free up a space for the person who has information to help us or more importantly may have a problem threatening property, or even life.
If your household or someone you know is suffering from a loss of power then you may rest assured that we are trying to restore service as quickly as possible, and we hope the information which we have proved on these pages is helpful.
Thanks, from the Control Room Staff.
The principle types of Loss of Power Supply are:
| · | Complete loss of supply, ie: all lights and power is out |
| · | "Brown" Out or "Dim Lights" |
| · | The Power is on, but there is no hot water |
Complete Loss of Supply
All of the lights are off and you have no power in any of the outlets in your home..
What causes this type of supply loss?
A complete loss of supply can be caused by an number of events, from a vehicle striking a pole, to lightning strikes, and trees falling over the power lines, or even vandalism.
What should I do?
In most cases of residential and commercial power supply you will be on a common line with your neighbours. So, check to see if any other houses in the street have there lights on or the street lights are working.
If the houses next door, or down the street do have power then the chances are that the problem will be isolated to your house. This could simply mean a blown fuse or tripped breaker. In the worst case your service from the street has been damaged. Please phone our emergency number since we have no way of knowing when individual homes are without power. We recommend you turn off any heaters, stoves, toasters, etc to avoid the possibility of fire when power is restored.
If you can see what has caused the loss of power, such as a tree branch over the wires, or you have a problem that affects life or property please phone our Emergency number. Otherwise rest assured we will be working as fast as possible to restore your supply.
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Brown Out or Dim Lights
All of the lights and power at the wall sockets in your premises are off.
What causes this type of supply loss?
A "Dim Lights" or "Brown Out" is generally caused when a single Phase on the supply network is lost, or the demand for electricity in your area temporarily exceeds supply.
What should I do?
Turn off all motor driven appliances, including VCR's and fridges. Leave one light on (not a fluorescent) which will let you know when power supply has been restored. We also recommend you turn off any heaters, electric cookers, toasters, etc to avoid the possibility of fire when supply is restored.
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The Power is on, but there is no Hot Water
What causes this type of supply loss?
Many households have taken advantage of using Off Peak Hot Water savings. This system operates by "ripple control", where we send a signal to your Hot Water system telling it to turn on and off when power is at it's cheapest.
Unfortunately on odd occasions the signal which is sent out to tell your hot water system to turn on may get interrupted. As soon as we have been advised of the problem we will re-send the signal and you can expect hot water again within about 4 hours.
What should I do?
Check the hot water after a couple of hours and if it hasn't warmed up please phone our Faults number noted below.
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Faults & Emergency Reports
1-877-310-4937
