If you’ve ever had your lights flicker or your power go off for just a few seconds before quickly coming back on, you’ve experienced what is commonly known as a power blink.
While these brief interruptions can be frustrating—especially when they reset clocks, electronics, or internet equipment—they are often a sign that CHELCO’s electric system is working exactly as designed.
Power blinks typically occur when a temporary fault affects a power line. Common causes include tree branches brushing a line, wildlife making contact with equipment, lightning-related disturbances, or other momentary events. When this happens, protective devices on the electric system automatically operate to isolate the fault and then attempt to restore power. If the fault clears itself, service is restored within seconds and members experience only a brief blink instead of a prolonged outage.
Not all blinks originate on CHELCO’s distribution system. Some occur on the transmission lines owned and operated by PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, CHELCO’s wholesale power provider. Because transmission lines serve entire substations, a transmission blink can affect every member served by that substation.
Just like CHELCO’s protective devices, transmission system protection is designed to quickly identify and clear temporary faults while restoring service as fast as possible.
Think of these protective devices as the electric grid’s version of a circuit breaker. They are designed to protect equipment, maintain reliability, and restore service quickly when conditions allow.
While no one enjoys a power blink, the alternative is often more inconvenient. Without these protective devices, many temporary faults would result in longer outages requiring crews to locate the problem and manually restore service. By automatically clearing temporary disturbances, CHELCO’s system helps keep outages shorter and less frequent.
It’s also important to note that CHELCO supplies power to many internet providers’ communication equipment mounted on our poles. While electric service is often restored within seconds after a blink, this equipment may take several minutes to reboot and restore internet service.
CHELCO continuously monitors system performance and works to improve reliability across our service area. In many cases, a brief power blink is evidence that the system is doing exactly what it was designed to do—protect the electric grid and keep power on for as many members as possible.
