See if your neighbors' power is out:

• If it's not, check your fuses or circuit breakers
• If it is, look out your windows for anything unusual like fallen wires or tree limbs on a line. Stay away from any downed wires

Call MGE to report the situation at your home. MGE depends on customers calling us when their power goes out to help us most quickly identify and fix the cause.

• Madison: (608) 252-7111
• Long-distance: (800) 245-1123

Minimize potential for further impact

• Unplug sensitive electronic equipment and turn off light switches to help prevent overloads when power is restored
• Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed

Use a battery-powered computer or radio for news updates.

If your power remains out after your neighbor has lights, call MGE.

Why do crews leave my neighborhood before the power is on?

• To repair damage on the supply line to your house/business
• More materials or equipment may be needed
• Crews may be called to a more immediate public danger or a vital public service location

Why can't MGE accurately predict when my service will be restored?

• We can provide rough estimates, but need field reports from our crews to:
  • understand the full extent of the damage
  • know what will need fixing to restore service
• Crews are focused on restoration and don't always have time to communicate
• Weather can hamper restoration and cause further damage

Electricity can jump from object to object. You don't have to touch a conductor to be in harm's way.

Stay away
– not only from downed power lines but also from objects touching a downed line (like a fence, tree or other object). Assume any downed wire is energized -- even a wire laying perfectly silent and still may have high voltage running through it.

Stay clear of areas where there are tree branches in suspended power lines.

If you are near a downed power line, or something touching a downed line, DO NOT WALK OR RUN.
Why? Electricity travels through the ground in all directions. The voltage decreases the further you are away from the downed wire. If you walk or run, you could conduct electricity in one leg at one voltage into the other leg at another voltage. This could shock or kill you. So keep both feet on the ground and shuffle with your legs close together as you move away from the downed line.

Be aware that downed lines can be lying in puddles or flooded areas – stay away.

Do not touch someone who is being shocked by a downed line – you could be killed.

In your vehicle
If a line falls on your car, drive away if you can. If you can't, stay inside until trained help arrives. Avoid touching any metal parts inside or outside your vehicle. If anyone begins to approach, warn them to stay away and not to touch your car – they could be killed.

If you absolutely have to get out, JUMP out of the vehicle without touching the vehicle and the ground at the same time. Then shuffle with your legs close together to move away from the vehicle. If you have a young child or infant in the vehicle with you and you must get out, hold them tight to your body while you hop out of the vehicle. Do not touch the vehicle and the ground at the same time or you will become the electricity's path to the ground.

MGE follows this order when restoring power:

1. Situations that could endanger public health and safety
2. Vital public services—hospitals, police and fire departments, and sewer and water facilities
3. Damage to a transmission line or substation that sends power into your neighborhood
4. Main distribution lines that serve the most people
5. Overhead or underground lines on an individual street
6. Service wire to a single home or business

MGE maintains a rigorous schedule of equipment maintenance and tree trimming around power lines to minimize service interruptions. We strive to provide service you can depend on.

• Weather is the number one cause of service interruptions
  • Lightning can strike equipment directly or cause trees to fall into power lines
  • Wind blows limbs and trees into power lines
  • Rain and flooding causes damage to overhead and underground equipment
  • Ice and snow can knock lines down or into each other
• Vehicle and construction accidents knock down poles or cut into lines or otherwise damage equipment
• Animals make contact that short-circuits equipment
• Unpredicted equipment failure. Sometimes things just break before we expect it

A generator can help during emergencies, but its safe use requires care and planning.

Gasoline-powered generators produce deadly carbon-monoxide fumes.

• Always run portable generators outside the house
• Never run generators in a garage
• Keep generators well away from open windows – including neighbors' windows – so deadly exhaust does not enter the home

Never connect a generator directly to your home's wiring. Power from a generator connected to a home's wiring will "back feed" into utility lines, potentially severely injuring or killing a neighbor or utility crew working to restore service.

Either:

• Plug appliances directly into the generator's outlet
• Use a heavy-duty extension cord rated for outdoor use to keep the generator safely outdoors. If the appliance has a three-prong plug, always use a three-prong extension cord
• Follow the manufacturer's recommendations for grounding the generator

Or:

• Hire a licensed electrician to connect the generator to your house wiring using a UL listed transfer switch. The transfer switch will safely prevent your generator from back feeding utility lines, thus avoiding a safety hazard and preventing possible damage when utility power is restored.

Keep an appliance thermometer in your refrigerator and freezer at all times to monitor temperatures. The refrigerator should be kept at 40 degrees F or lower, and the freezer at 0 degrees F or lower.

During a power outage, keep freezer and refrigerator doors closed; open them only when absolutely necessary. As a general rule:

• Food will stay frozen for 36-48 hours in a fully loaded freezer if you keep the door closed
• A half-full freezer will generally keep food frozen for about 24 hours if the door is closed
• Food in a closed, reasonably full refrigerator will stay safely cool up to 4 hours

For more information:
UW Extension: Food Safety in an Emergency [85 kB PDF]
US Dept. of Agriculture: Keeping Food Safe in an Emergency
American Red Cross: Food Safety guidelines