Lightning
Lightning is a common cause of outages. Lightning can strike electrical
equipment like poles, lines, transformers, etc., causing customers
served by that equipment to lose power. Lightning can also strike trees,
which may fall onto power lines and cause outages.
Wind
High winds may cause power lines to touch. When that happens, a fault or
short-circuit occurs, which can interrupt electrical service. Wind also
may blow tree limbs or entire trees onto power lines causing the lines
to break or fall to the ground.
Snow
Winter storms can create a buildup of snow and ice on power lines and
trees. The weight of the snow and ice can cause tree limbs and trees to
fall onto power lines, either knocking the lines and poles down and
breaking them, or causing a short-circuit by knocking the lines into
each other.
Rain and Flooding
Heavy rains and melting snow can cause flooding in some areas. Floods,
in turn, can cause damage to both above-ground and underground
electrical equipment. To prevent major damage to electrical equipment
during times of flooding, Piqua Power System technicians may need to
turn off the electricity temporarily to some customers.
Car Accidents
Cars colliding with power poles are a common cause of electrical
outages. Sometimes a collision will cause a pole to break or make the
lines sway enough that they touch and cause a short-circuit.
Birds and Small Animals
Birds and small animals, especially squirrels, can cause power outages.
Despite our efforts to keep them away with animal guards and nesting
platforms, animals and birds often climb or nest on certain pieces of
equipment such as transformers and fuses. Sometimes the animals will
touch two wires at one time and cause a short-circuit.
Trees
Piqua Power System estimates that up to 20 percent of all electrical
outages in the company’s service area are caused by trees that fall
onto power lines or tree limbs that come in contact with power lines.
Piqua Power System clears trees away from the lines on a regular cycle.
If you own trees near power lines, you may wish to maintain them between
cycles to help reduce power outages. Piqua Power System will help
customers maintain trees near their service line (line from pole to
house) by disconnecting/reconnecting lines during normal working hours.
Please do not attempt to trim trees near a line that is energized prior
to contacting an Piqua Power System representative.
Momentary Disturbances
Momentary interruptions of your electrical service are caused by short
circuits when the lines feeding your neighborhood come into contact with
each other or with a tree or some other object. When a short circuit
occurs a breaker automatically de-energizes the circuit and causes an
interruption to your service. It is a normal utility practice to quickly
open and close the breaker two or three times automatically in separate
attempts to clear the problem. If the problem does not clear itself,
field personnel must find the source of the trouble and fix it.
Approximately 80-90 percent of all utility short circuits clear
themselves. For example if a tree limb blows into a line it will
normally swing clear in a few seconds. In this case you would see the
lights dim, then go out, but then come back on. |
