Safety Tips

What to do During a Power Failure

If you lose power in your home or office, first check for popped breakers (or blown fuses in old systems) in your breaker panel. If the problem is not in your panel, call North Central PPD immediately to report your outage at 888-358-5112.

Always stay away from downed power lines and broken utility poles!

Power Restoration Priority

During times of multiple outages, the Operations Department must decide which areas to restore power to first. We follow a set of standardized guidelines, known as the Power Restoration Priorities, the goal of which is to restore power to the largest number of members in the shortest time possible.

The Power Restoration Priorities are, in order:

Safety of our employees, customers, and the public; then protection of property and assets; and finally, restoration of power to:

1. Transmission lines
2. Substations (13 in the system)
3. Main feeders (38  in the system)
4. Three-phase primary lines: medical facilities, emergency response facilities, schools, etc.
5. Single-phase primary lines: the main line supplying your home or business
6. Secondary lines: the line going from the road to your home or business

For more safety information click on the following:

Portable Generator

Use that Portable Generator Safely!

For most of us, a backup generator can be a nice thing to have in case the power goes off. For some people, such as those dependent on life-support equipment, a backup generator is essential. Whether you depend on a generator or simply enjoy its convenience, it's important to keep it in good working order and use it safely to get the maximum benefit from your investment.

Remember extreme care should always be used when hooking up and operating a generator. Any standby generator installation must include an enclosed, double-pole, double throw transfer switch between the meter and the standby unit. This is necessary to prevent any electric energy produced by the standby generator from accidentally feeding back into North Central's lines. Linemen working on lines and unaware the lines were being energized by a standby unit could be seriously injured or even killed. If you are considering installing a standby generator or have one and have questions concerning how to safely operate the generator, please call North Central PPD at 402-358-5112 or 1-800-578-1060 or e-mail us at ncentral@ncppd.net.

To view more standby generator safety information click on safety information.