Bookmark Your Utility's Outage Map Before the Storm

When the power goes out, everybody asks the same question: how long? Your electric utility's outage map and text alerts are the best answer, and they're easiest to set up before you need them.

01Find it now

1. Look at your electric bill for the company name and account number.
2. Go to their website and find "Outages" or "Outage map."
3. Bookmark it on every phone in the house.
4. Write down the outage phone number on the paper list by the fridge. See the grab-and-go document binder.

If you're on a rural electric co-op, it has its own map and number. Find that one.

02Sign up for alerts

Most utilities offer text or app alerts. Sign up with your account number. You'll get:

• A confirmation that they know your power is out
• An estimated restoration time (often a guess at first, better later)
• A text when they think it's back

03Report your outage

Don't assume your neighbors reported it. Report it yourself, by text, app or phone. Sometimes a single house or a single street is out because of one blown fuse on a pole, and the utility doesn't know until someone calls.

04Read the map right

• Estimated restoration times in the first hours of a big storm are often placeholders. After crews assess the damage, they get better.
• Big storms are fixed in order: transmission lines and substations first, then main lines that serve the most people, then side streets, then single houses.
• If your neighbors have power and you don't, report it. You may have a separate problem.

05Keep it working when the power is out

• Keep phones charged. See the first 72 hours at home.
• A NOAA weather radio gives you weather when cell service is spotty. See NOAA weather radios explained.

06Downed lines

Stay at least 30 feet away and call 911 and the utility. Assume every wire on the ground is live.

How long Midwest outages usually last: see Midwest power outages: how long they last.

Photo by JACLOU-DL on Pixabay.

Related: 72-Hour Kit Checklist for Midwest Families · A Family Communication Plan That Works Without Cell Service