To report an outage, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, please call 940-321-7800 or 1-800-274-4014.

Electricity. It powers our appliances, cools us in the summer and warms us in the winter. It keeps our businesses running and enables us to reach our customers.

CoServ recognizes the importance electricity plays in our daily lives and we realize that even a few minutes without power can seem like an eternity. We are focused on ensuring that power is available when you need it, that outages are kept to a minimum and that in the event of an outage, service is restored as quickly as possible.

The information provided below will help you to understand what causes an outage and what to do should the power go out.

• What causes an outage?
• What should I do in the case of an outage?
• What is CoServ doing to prevent outages?
• What happens when I report an outage?
• What should I do if a person on the property requires electric service to maintain life?

What causes an outage?

A variety of factors may affect electricity delivery and cause power outages. These include:

• Weather - Storms, wind, lightning, ice and snow can cause outages affecting a wide area.
• Digging/Construction - Digging equipment used for excavations, repairs or constructions in your area can damage underground cables.
• Trees - If tree branches come in contact with power lines they may cause your lights to blink (for example, when its windy) or may even cause your power to go out.
• High Power Demand - Heat waves and other times of high demand can overload equipment.
• Animals - Squirrels, birds and other creatures can damage power lines or cause short circuits.
• Vehicular Accidents - Vehicular accidents can damage poles or other equipment.
• Planned Outages - On rare occasions, it is necessary for CoServ to temporarily interrupt power in order to safely perform maintenance.

While CoServ cannot always prevent these factors from interrupting electric service, we can ensure that our crews are responsive and ready to act.

Return to Top...

What should I do in case of an outage?

If you should experience an electrical outage, please follow these steps:

• Check your fuses and circuit breakers. High demand can overload the circuits in your home. If you still have power to some of your lights and appliances, chances are the problem is in the fuses or circuit breakers.
• Call CoServ Electric and CoServ Gas at 940-321-7800 or 1-800-274-4014. Please have the following information ready to enable a quicker response:
  • Your account number, if available. Otherwise please be prepared to provide your driver’s license number, social security number or home phone number. Please note: This method will not work if you haven’t already provided your driver’s license number, social security number or home phone number to us beforehand.
  • Any other information that may be helpful, including location of any wires that are down, trees that are interfering with the lines, sparks spotted, etc.
• When you are reporting the outage using our IVR system, you will get a choice of four options:
  • Emergency or Potentially Life Threatening Situations
  • Reporting a Security Light or Street Light.
  • Flickering Lights or Partial Power
  • No Power at Your Location
  
  **Please ONLY select “Emergency or Potentially Life Threatening Situations” if it is an EMERGENCY such as a downed line, broken pole, fire around line/pole, a tree has fallen on a line or a vehicle accident where our poles are involved. If you cannot get through to our IVR to report an emergency, this may be because of high call volume due to an outage. Please call 911 and they will contact us immediately with the information.**
• You can also request a callback on restoration of your power. Our automated system will call you back when our workers have restored power to verify that your power is working. Please remember, if a large outage has occurred, our automated system is calling back every member/customer that requested a callback. It may be several hours before you are contacted.

Return to Top...

What is CoServ doing to prevent outages?

CoServ is actively managing service delivery and system design to ensure outages are kept to a minimum. Our state-of-the-art Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system (SCADA) and Outage Management System (OMS), implemented in 2005, provide CoServ operating personnel power grid monitoring and management tools that exceed industry requirements, and we continue to invest in enhancements. The SCADA and OMS systems include advanced features that quickly flag outages and allow CoServ to rapidly dispatch line personnel to the source of the problem. At times, personnel may even be able to restore power by remote control to get your systems up and running as quickly as possible.

Return to Top...

What happens when I report an outage?

CoServ's SCADA and OMS tools provide advanced outage management. What this means is that often by the time you report an outage, we are already "on the job" turning your power back on. When members report outages the system will collect any necessary information and notify the dispatch team to deploy line personnel or perform remote operations to restore power. The system also provides predictive information to enable CoServ to determine possible causes or additional locations that may be affected. Members phoning after an outage has been reported will receive a recorded message providing acknowledgment of the outage and estimated time for restoration. Members reporting outages may also request return telephone notification when power has been restored.

Return to Top...

What should I do if a person on the property requires electric service to maintain life?

If a resident on the premises requires electric service to maintain life, we encourage you to contact the Customer Service Department at 940-321-7800 or 1-800-274-4014. Your account will be coded as "critical", making our service technicians aware of the medical need in outage situations. Documentation from your physician will be required to support the medical need.

Return to Top...