We encourage you to dial 1-800-421-9959 whenever you need to report an outage, especially during severe storms.

Depending on the volume of calls the Call Center is answering, your call may be rolled over to an automated answering service. The service allows you to let us know you’re out of power more quickly than waiting on the line to talk with a live person. And it also allows us to process your outage information more efficiently so your electric service can be restored faster.

Depending on the severity of the outage, thousands of members could call at once to report the electricity is out. If you receive an automated outage reporting service, it’s because the call center agents are handling high call volumes.   

The following steps explain how to use IVR when call volumes are high and a live Call Center agent is unavailable:
 
Tips to report an outage using the automated phone service

When outages occur, our interactive voice response (IVR) phone system can gather outage reports from members and assist with outage restoration.

1. Call 1-800-421-9959: 
If all lines are busy, your call will go into the automated phone system. When using IVR, use the primary telephone number for your service location (the number listed on your power bill). If using a cell phone, be sure the signal is strong enough to work properly with automated phone system.  

2. When the system asks, press 1 to report a power outage:

• If you have more than one account with us, choose one of the accounts to help identify yourself.
• You may hear information about an outage affecting your area after the system identifies you with a specific outage. This is the “aware” feature that improves the co-op’s outage communications and reduces call volume.  
• Depending on the outage significance, you may hear a pre-recorded message giving information about an outage before the system asks you to respond. 
• Describe the outage cause if you know it.
• The IVR system will inform you when it has sufficient information so our crews can be dispatched to restore your power. Then you may hang up

3. Dispatch takes action:  
The information you enter through the IVR system will automatically be sent to dispatch so we are aware of your outage and can send crews to your area.