Electric Department FAQs

Power outages happen for a wide variety of reasons. Many of these are compounded by storm events such as high winds or heavy rains, while others are not related to the environment. Below is a list of some of the more common causes of electrical outages. Tree Damage: Trees can conduct electricity at the high voltages at which TUA's distribution system operates. Any time a tree limb falls from a tree and lands across two or more of the wires on an overhead power pole an outage will occur. Obviously, this happens more during storms, when the winds and rain break limbs from the trees. We limit the amount of damage caused by trees with a vigorous trimming program, but in Tullahoma trees are likely to always be a problem for power reliability. Lightning: Lightning causes electrical outages through several mechanisms. First, lightning can induce large currents on the electric system that blows fuses as it is taken to ground by the system's lightning protection. Second, occasionally, poles or other facilities are hit and destroyed by lightning. Trees that are hit by lightning also frequently fall into electric lines. Animals: Tullahoma is a very beautiful place to live, and the environment lends itself to proliferation of various animal species. Unfortunately, these animals sometimes find their way into harms way with the electrical system. Most commonly, squirrels like to climb on the poles and use the wires as highways between trees. These animals frequently contact energized parts of the system. The resulting short circuit will blow fuses on the line and cause a power outage. We have also had occasional problems with snakes, opossums, skunks, cats, ground hogs and birds. As a note, we have several systems in place to limit the amount of animal involvement in the system, but even the best state of the art systems are not foolproof. Accidents: Frequently automobile accidents involve utility poles. If the pole is broken, the wires can come down. Even if the pole is not broken, the wires on the pole may clap together. Either of these events causes electrical outages. Note: Even though the system is designed to cut off current to a line that falls to the ground, you should never assume this. Treat every downed line as though it is live-stay clear! Mechanical Failures: The electric system is made up of a large number of different components. These include breakers, controls, and simple wire connections. These components can and do fail on occasion. Like many other systems, the wires and connections see their highest stress during peak loading conditions. This means that they are more likely to fail when it is extremely hot or extremely cold. Planned Events: TUA routinely works with 13,000-volt systems energized to minimize inconvenience to our customers. This said, we will not undertake any job "hot" if the crew on site considers the work too dangerous. If a job affects only a small area, the crew will knock on each door to attempt and notify customers that their power is going to be interrupted. For larger areas, the newspaper is notified in advance, and a notice of the upcoming work is announced. We attempt to schedule work where it will cause the least inconvenience to our customers, including late night outages. For persons with a life support need, TUA will attempt to notify them of an upcoming outage by telephone or post card. We cannot however, notify persons of unplanned outages (else we would take steps to prevent them!).