Show All Answers

1. Who do I call if the electricity goes out?

In the event of an electric outage, call 620-252-6180.

2. What is a municipal electric utility?

Municipal utilities are owned by a unit of the government that purchases or produces electricity at wholesale and distributes it to customers.

3. What does PCA stand for, and what is it?

PCA stands for power cost adjustment. A PCA is an adjustment made on your electric bill which either goes up or down each month. The PCA is dependent upon what the true cost of power is when purchased from the Grand River Dam Authority or produced at our power plant.

4. Why is a Power Cost Adjustment (PCA) necessary?

One way to think about PCA is to compare it to the cost of gasoline for your car. Even though your monthly car payment hasn’t gone up, the car you drive is costing more to operate now because just as electricity prices have risen, so have gasoline prices at the pump (the PCA). The PCA is a pass through charge that is unknown from one month to another just as gasoline prices are unknown from month to month.

5. Who do I call to report a street light out?

Call 620-252-6186 to report a street light out.
You can also report a street light out online.

6. Why do I have trouble getting a call through during a power outage?

When you're calling to report an outage, hundreds of other people may be trying to do the same. Please be patient, we will answer your call as soon as possible. Remember the number to call to report an outage is (620) 252-6180. Leave a message if you get a recording. Please have your name, address and/or pole number ready for the dispatcher.

7. Why can't you tell me specifically when my power will be restored?

Unless the cause and extent of an outage are obvious, it takes us some time to determine the extent of the damage and outage. The problems are also compounded during winter storms when access can be limited. Our priority is simply to get your power back on, and not to guess about the time frame it may happen.

8. My neighbors have power - why don't I?

Sometimes there's a blown fuse in a transformer or damage done to the line servicing your home. We also may have to isolate a small section of the line to work on a problem, even while power has been restored to other parts of the same line.

9. Do certain customers get priority in having power restored after an outage?

Generally, no. We start with the biggest problems and work our way down. Depending on the extent of the outage emergency service providers, such as police and fire departments as well as medical facilities take precedent. We also make special efforts for customers on life support.

10. Why does it take so long to get power back?

During major outages that affect many areas of the city and surrounding area, we have to attack all the problems methodically and make sure we're doing it in a safe manner. The time it takes to repair problems is directly related to the extent of the damage.

11. Why can't you prevent outages from occurring in the first place?

We do our best during non-emergency time to maintain and upgrade our entire electric system. A well maintained system will prevent some outages but it cannot prevent all outages.

12. Why don't you just bury all power lines, or at least put them underground in the areas most prone to outages?

Underground power lines cost up to 3 times as much to install as overhead lines. Because of larger stretches of lines in rural areas, where outages most frequently occur, it would cost customers too much to put in underground service. Underground lines also have unique maintenance problems, so installing them doesn't make the customers immune to outages.