Summer storms and winter weather sometimes result in power outages, often due to downed poles and power lines. In those situations, our crews work to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. 

Other types of outages are less common, but it is important to know why they happen and what you can expect as a customer – and also how you can help. Aside from storms, you might experience outages because of capacity issues or extensive damage to the grid. In this article, we’ll focus on how capacity issues might affect the grid. 

Capacity  

Summer’s heat leads many of us to turn up the air conditioning in our homes, businesses, factories and other buildings. On very hot days, the demand for electricity can rise to extremely high levels, occasionally causing stress to the power grid.

I&M has a number of tools to help relieve that stress. Some rely on cooperation from customers. The rarest – a last resort that protects the grid – calls for temporary rotating outages.

Residential customers help conserve energy and can earn bill credits by participating in our Power Rewards program. The program allows I&M to automatically adjust your air conditioning during times of peak energy demand. 

Many of our commercial and industrial customers participate in a voluntary program to reduce their energy use to agreed upon levels during periods of high energy demand. 

On extremely hot (and in the winter, extremely cold) days, those measures may not be enough, and we may ask customers to reduce their use of electricity.

The Grid

We are part of a larger regional power grid that serves our customers and customers of other utilities in more than a dozen states in the Midwest and Eastern U.S. An independent organization known as PJM Interconnection serves as the “traffic cop” for the grid, coordinating the movement of electricity.

PJM monitors how much power is being generated – from sources including nuclear energy, solar, wind and water – by I&M and other power plants throughout its 13-state region. PJM also monitors how much energy is being used and the status of that power flowing through high-voltage transmission lines.

Occasionally, PJM determines that the amount of energy being generated and transmitted may not meet the demand of all 65 million customers represented by the utilities in PJM’s region.

How You Can Help

On those occasions, PJM may ask customers of I&M and other utilities in its region to reduce their energy use. That occurred last Christmas Eve, during bitterly cold weather. I&M customers and customers of other utilities in the region rose to the request, and no further action was needed.

On rare occasions, those measures are not enough, and the demand for electricity exceeds the supply.

Temporary Outages

Rotating outages are a last resort to address the issue of demand exceeding supply of electricity and occur rarely. We appreciate customers for helping by reducing their power use when asked, and we want you to know why rotating outages may occur.

Although I&M may be generating adequate power to serve its customers, we are part of the larger grid where energy is transmitted across great distances to multiple states. In order to protect the electric grid, PJM may require I&M and other utilities to use rotating outages. The practice involves temporarily interrupting service to smaller groups of customers for a short time.

The decision to temporarily interrupt power is quickly made on very short notice, and I&M will unlikely be able to warn affected customers before an outage. However, if rotating outages must occur, we will make every attempt to communicate the status to you as soon as possible using multiple communications channels such as as text alerts and social media.

The rotating power outages are designed to limit the length of time any single group of customers is without service. If needed, outages will continue to rotate among different geographic areas as long as required by PJM. Individual outages typically last about 15 minutes to 1 hour before the individual outage ends and rotates to another area.

What You Should Do

If you experience an outage:

• Please turn off your cooling system and large appliances to enable smoother service restoration. Once power is restored, switch the devices back on gradually over 30 to 45 minutes. Taking this step helps prevent a sudden surge in demand after power is restored, which could cause a second outage.
• If you have a generator, make sure you use it safely. Do not run it in an enclosed space. Make sure it’s connected to your home or appliances with appropriate cords/cables.
• Keep your freezer/refrigerator closed.

We Appreciate Your Help

When windstorms, tornadoes, blizzards or icing cause power outages, I&M works to restore power to each and every customer as soon as safely possible. We are humbled by the support you show to our crews as they work 16-hour days to restore power in every type of weather. 

In the case of rotating outages, power is controlled by centralized switching. In these situations, even though you may not see our crews out restoring power, you can be assured we are working to protect the electric grid that serves you, and we restore power to customers as soon as possible.