Although reliability is heavily influenced by the weather and Mother Nature, there are other factors that cause power outages. At Union Power, we work diligently to prepare for power interruptions beyond the storm.

As reliability and service is important, here are some other measures the co-op is taking to reduce power interruptions:

• Wildlife protection, such as squirrel guards, are placed on all new applications and where outages have occurred. Fifty percent of our active overhead transformers have wildlife protection to reduce animal-caused outages.
• Our dispatchers help assist with reported outages called in or texted by our members. Dispatchers relay this information to the on-call crew, who ensure our members’ power is restored.
• Geographic Information System (GIS) provides updated maps that relay accurate information to our billing data and dispatch center. GIS helps with outage predictions.
• Power “blinks” are investigated before they can become a potential problem that leads to sustained outages.
• System and contingency planning is important. Building and maintaining substations and adding circuits help minimize the number of members who experience loss of power during a sustained outage.
• AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) helps pinpoint outages quickly for faster restoration. All of these measures help us add value to you, our members, by providing you with safe and reliable power with exceptional value.

All of these measures help us add value to you, our members, by providing you with safe and reliable power with exceptional value.