We all are inconvenienced at best when the power goes out. Other than planned outages for the linemen to upgrade and maintain lines, the main causes of outages are weather, animals and accidents. Weather events that affect the reliability of electricity flow include high winds, snow and ice, and lightning. Unfortunately, at times animals such as birds, snakes and rodents find their way into substations or onto power lines which can cause short circuits and disruption to the power supply. Less frequently we experience vehicle accidents or construction and excavation work that bring down overhead lines or damage underground powerlines, resulting in a power outage until restoration efforts take effect.

As you can imagine, our employee overtime hours are highly correlated to power outages. On average, each lineman works about 100 hours of overtime each year to restore power. Historically, our after-hours crews were made up of two linemen. Two crew members help with safety, ensuring that there is someone there to help in a time of need and to be an extra set of eyes to ensure something doesn’t get overlooked. Wheat Belt has several apprentices, so our after-hours crews have included three crew members so we can get the apprentices the experiences they need to become great linemen.
The next time the power is out, which we work hard to ensure this is as infrequent as possible and has minimal impact, think about our linemen who are out there working to restore your power.

By: Lacey Gulbranson, General Manager