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| | . Be careful if your home or business is served by underground electric service. State law says you must call the Utility Notification Center at 1-800-344-8377 forty-eight (48) hours before you dig in your yard. If you fail to do so, and you damage utility lines, you will be charged for repairs. The locating service is free. The Utility Notification Center notifies the following utilities: cable TV, electric, natural gas, telephone, water and sewer. Wait until all utilities have marked the area before you dig. Then, follow the instructions on each locate sheet carefully to safely complete your project. Return to top
Animals Animals, usually squirrels, on an overhead line can cause a fault. Electric crews have installed guards to prevent this type of outage as much as possible.
Car accident Sometimes a vehicle hits an electric pole and causes the power lines to touch creating a short circuit. Other times, a collision may break the pole causing the power lines to drop to the ground. To be safe, stay in the car until the power is turned off. At the scene of the accident, do not try to remove someone from the vehicle until the power has been turned off.
Digging Electric cable can be broken during construction projects or while planting trees in the backyard. If your home or business is served by buried, underground electric, CALL BEFORE YOU DIG 1-800-344-8377. State law requires that you call 48 hours before you dig in your yard. If you do not call and damage a utility line, you are charged for the cost of the repairs.
Equipment failure Transformers and other electric system equipment sometimes fails. This happens more frequently when the temperature is very cold or very hot.
Lightning When lightning directly strikes overhead electric lines, equipment or poles, the excess voltage may cause the equipment to fail creating an outage.
Storms Wind, snow and ice cause trees to fall on power lines creating an outage.
Trees Occasionally, outages in Fredericksburg are caused by trees growing into power lines. We have an annual tree trimming program to help prevent this type of outage. While this program is not always popular with residents, it is very, very important. If trees in your yard are growing into the overhead power lines, we must trim them sufficiently to prevent an outage, both immediately and in the future. Call (830) 997-7521 for more information, or E-mail us your comments or questions about the utility tree trimming program.
Snow and Ice Snow and ice accumulated on overhead power lines and equipment can cause lines to break creating a power outage. Snow and ice on overhead equipment may cause the equipment to malfunction causing an outage.
Never touch or go near a power line on the ground. Call the Fredericksburg Electric Department for help. On weekdays between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m., call (830) 997-7521. At all other times, call (830) 997-8080. Return to top
Check to see if others are without power. If you are the only one without electricity, check your circuit breaker panel or fuse box. Note that in some homes or buildings, the main breaker is located near the electric meter. If the breakers are in the “on” position or the fuses are not burned out, you will need to call an electrician. If others are without power, call the City of Fredericksburg Electric Department. On weekdays between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m., call (830) 997-7521. At all other times, call (830) 997-8080 If the phone is busy, try again. During an outage extra staff answer phones. Once you have reported an outage, please know that crews are working on the problem. In a major outage, duplicate calls jam the busy phone lines and prevent us from receiving critical storm damage information to help crews quickly repair the problem. When you call, be prepared to give: - Your name
- Address
- Phone number
- Outage information
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At home: - Turn off appliances that were running before the outage. This protects the motor and makes it easier for City of Fredericksburg utility crews to restore power.
- Turn off the air-conditioning system during hot weather.
- Lower the thermostat to protect the furnace during cold weather.
- Do not open your refrigerator door.
- Do not open your freezer during a power outage. You can expect that food stored in a freezer will probably stay frozen for 24 hours.
- Do not use a natural gas range or burn charcoal for heat. Both fuels give off dangerous fumes. Be aware that a fireplace may pull more warm air from a house than it gives out.
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About one-third of the electricity that is used today powers sensitive electronic equipment. The plug load for all of the sophisticated equipment that everyone likes to use will continue to increase. A short list of equipment that needs protection and requires quality electric power follows: - Computers
- Printers
- Electronic clocks
- Microwave ovens
- Video cassette recorders
- Satellite receivers
- Home or office security systems
- Answering machines
Identifying power quality problemsElusive, curious, puzzling and unexplainable problems in the operation of sensitive equipment might be related to or caused by power quality problems. Consider power quality for these problems: - Automatic controls do not reset.
- Errors, not yours, are found in data.
- Memory is there, then lost.
- Circuit boards have to be replaced.
- You are locked out of the system.
Some causes of power quality problems- In homes, air conditioners, refrigerators, garbage disposal units and sensitive electronic equipment affect the power. For example in the past, few were concerned about the lights dimming when the refrigerator started. Today, the computer might crash or the clocks could need resetting due to a change in the voltage.
- In businesses, copy machines, air conditioners, vending machines, electronic ballasts, welders and variable speed motors all impact power quality.
- In the electric distribution system, whenever a tree falls on a power line, an underground cable is cut, or a car hits a pole, the flow of electricity is affected.
- At an electric generating plant a piece of equipment could break, lightning could strike or an outage on a connecting system might create a spike or sag in the entire electric grid.
Solving power quality problemsIf you suspect a power quality problem, keep a log. Note the date and time of the problem. Set your computer to save your work automatically. It is extremely important to identify the problem before implementing a solution. - For a planned or accidental loss of power of 2 seconds or longer, a possible solution would be an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or a UPS with a generator. Some UPS systems will sense an outage, save the document and shut down. If the work cannot be interrupted, then a backup generator is required. Call the City of Fredericksburg Electric Department for more information.
- A momentary power outage may result in lost work or a disc drive crash. An appropriately sized UPS usually provides protection.
- A spike or swell in the voltage under one or two seconds could be caused by a short circuit, equipment start up or shut down, or an undersized electric circuit.
- In microseconds, a voltage spike may result in processing errors, data loss or ruined circuit boards. The spike can be caused by lightning, static electricity, elevators, utility switching, or heavy equipment starting up. A transient voltage surge suppressor (TVSS) may resolve the problem. The location of the TVSS must be carefully considered.
- Noise on the electric signal, harmonic distortion, may cause data loss or processing errors. Common causes are appliances, radio and TV broadcasts, laser printers, loose wiring or improper grounding. Separate electric wiring may solve the problem or other power conditioning equipment may be necessary. Again, carefully analyze the problems.
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Are you putting in an entire yard or changing an existing landscape? Please landscape safely and be sure to leave space around utility equipment so the City of Fredericksburg Electric Department can easily maintain electric service to your home. Electrical equipment in yards can be deadly. However, children's sandboxes have been found on top of the entry to underground vaults. Other utility equipment in your yard or the easement near your home can include transformers, electric utility boxes and cable, fire hydrants, meter pits, meter readouts and manholes. If you have questions about the utility equipment in your yard, call (830) 997-7521. We also find our equipment blocked by rock, weed barrier, storage sheds, fences, trees, bushes, sandboxes, etc.. In an emergency, if access to a fire hydrant or electrical equipment is blocked, the results can be fatal. Landscaping GuidelinesCall for free utility line locates before you dig in your yard. If your home or business is served by buried, underground electric, call the Utility Notification Center 48 hours before you dig at 1-800-344-8377 . If you hit an underground electric line, the shock could kill you. State law says if you don't call for locates and damage a utility line, you will be charged for repairs. Wait until all utilities have been marked before you dig. Then, follow the instructions on each locate sheet carefully to safely complete your project. - Look up before you plant trees. Do not plant trees next to or under overhead power lines. The little tree you're planting today could eventually grow into the lines, creating a safety hazard for our maintenance crews. Plus, fallen limbs are a leading cause of power outages.
- In addition, sewer lines generally run parallel to power lines in back lot easements. Roots from trees can eventually plug your sewer or crush sewer pipe.
- Leave 2-foot clearances on the side and back of electric utility boxes and at least 8-foot clearance in front of electric utility box doors.
- Leave a 3-foot clearance around fire hydrants. Do not obstruct the view of the hydrant from the street in any direction.
- Leave 1-foot clear semi-circle around meter boxes and clearance completely open to sidewalks or curbs.
- Be kind to the meter reader. Keep shrubs trimmed to allow visibility to meter readouts and meter boxes. Please do not fence in your electric meter.
For more information call (830) 997-7521. Return to top |
