Common Causes of Flickers and Outages After Restoration
- Hidden Equipment Damage: Wind, tree limbs, or lightning can weaken poles, transformers, or service lines in ways that are not obvious until the system is fully re-energized.
- Trip and Reclose Operations: Automatic protective devices on the power grid may temporarily trip and reclose (lasting a few seconds to a minute) as they isolate minor faults or clear debris.
- Partial Outages: Damaged service leads or blown individual fuses can leave some 120-volt circuits working while 240-volt major appliances (like air conditioners or water heaters) lose power.
- Home-Level Electrical Issues: Tripped internal breakers, blown home fuses, or property-side damage to the weatherhead/meter can mimic utility-side outages.
What You Should Do
- Report Active Problems: Contact CHELCO or call 1-850-892-2111, or 1(800) 342-0990 to report ongoing issues or check updates on CHELCO’s outage map (https://outageview.chelco.com:8080/).
- Check Your Breakers: Inspect your home's main circuit breaker panel to see if a breaker tripped.
- Hire a Licensed Electrician: If the damage is on your property side (such as the service mast or meter box), you will need to hire a licensed electrician before the utility can safely reconnect power.
