Coping with outages

Although the Eugene Water & Electric Board's power is very reliable, outages do occur from time to time. The following tips can help you cope with an outage and stay safe.

At home
  • Check your electrical panel first for tripped breakers or fuses.
  • If this isn't the problem, call EWEB's outage reporting line at (541) 484-2300 and report the outage.
  • If you have electric heat, turn down your thermostats to prevent overloading the distribution system (and causing another outage) when power is restored.
  • Keep refrigerators and freezers closed as much as possible. Food will remain cold for several hours in the refrigerator; during prolonged outages, food will stay frozen about two days in a full freezer and one day in a half-full freezer.
  • Covering a freezer with a blanket slows the thawing process.
  • Leave an inside light and a porch light switched on, so you and EWEB repair crews will know when power has been restored.
  • If your power is dim or excessively bright, turn off the power at the breaker box and call EWEB.
  • Make sure your stove or other appliances with heating elements are turned off. This could create a safety hazard if you are not home when power is restored.
  • Listen to local radio stations for updates on when power is expected to be restored.
At work
  • Turn off electrical and motorized equipment to reduce the chances of electric overloads when power is restored.
  • Consider a back-up power supply in the event of a prolonged outage, especially if your business provides critical services, such as nursing or medical care, or if you have equipment or manufacturing operations that need to operated on a more continual basis. EWEB's Energy Management Services specialists can help you make the decision about backup power supplies. Call us at (541) 685-7000.