Have you ever heard of Highline Electric having a “planned outage?” You may have wondered, “what is a planned outage?” and “why does my electric utility need to perform one?” Occasionally, the equipment we use to bring power to your home needs to be replaced, repaired or updated. When this happens, as a way to keep our crews and you safe, we plan an interruption to electric service.

We do our best to plan these outages during times when you will be least inconvenienced, so we often perform planned outages early in the morning and not during school and business hours. We also try to avoid planning these outages during extreme weather. We understand these are often peak times of the year when you depend on running your heating and cooling units the most.

The majority of our planned outages occur because of the East-West Tie. Highline is unique in that we are one of few electric coops that have this in their territory. The East-West Tie is simply where the east and west grids come together; however these two cannot be connected together without causing major issues. If you’ve ever experienced short 6:00am outages it’s mostly because you’re on this East-West Tie and are being switched from one side to the other, and back. For the most part, any other areas within Highline’s territory will not have as many planned outages because they can be switched without losing power.

While they may sound slightly inconvenient, planned outages are actually beneficial to you, our members. Regular system upgrades are necessary for optimal performance, and they increase reliability. Repairing and upgrading our equipment is also critical to maintaining public safety. If older lines need to be replaced, we plan for it, repair or replace it, and that keeps everyone safe.

Here at Highline Electric Association, we want to make sure we are doing everything we can to keep you safe and to keep our system running smoothly. So, the next time you hear about a planned outage, know that it is one of the best ways we can provide you with quality electric service. Be sure to connect with us on social media to keep up on any alerts we give!