It takes more than 45,000 miles of overhead power lines, 250,000 utility poles, and 103,000 transformers to bring electric power to homes and businesses throughout Allegheny and Beaver counties. Most of the time, this equipment works well and electricity is there when you want it, at the flip of the switch.
If the power does go out, our crews are committed to doing whatever it takes – including working around the clock, regardless of weather – to get your power restored. From the service representative that takes your call to the worker that climbs the pole to repair the wires, here's how the people of Duquesne Light work to get your life back on.
We learn about power outages in several different ways. One is through our equipment in the field. We have two-way communication links with each of our 300 major substations and with more than 800 individual switching devices on top of utility poles.
Every one of these devices can sense when there's trouble, and automatically send a signal to our Distribution Operations Center (DOC) notifying us that there has been a problem.
The Operations Center is staffed around-the-clock, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. As is the Customer Call Center, which continually relays outage information to the DOC.
In some cases, the DOC team can restore your power without ever leaving their desks by using a computer to open and close the automatic switches on the pole top devices to isolate the area where the problem occurred.
That's what is happening when you experience a power flicker or brief outage, In fact, under normal conditions, this system can get the power back on in just about five minutes for two of every three customers effected on a typical 23,000-volt distribution circuit.
To get power back to the remaining customers, the next step is to find out just what caused the problem and how extensive the damage is by sending a troubleshooter or technician to the site.
Our workers have to travel on the same highways and face the same problems other drivers do. Duquesne Light trucks, cars, and vans are not considered emergency vehicles. If the weather has made travel difficult or slow-going, it may take us a while to get to the site of the power outage.
Often this effort is well worth it, especially when the troubleshooter is able to restore power by fixing the problem right on the spot. We have troubleshooters working around the clock.
If the damage is too extensive for one person to fix, such as when wires are down between utility poles, or when a transformer or pole is damaged, the troubleshooter will call for a repair crew, explaining the exact nature of the problem so that the crew comes prepared with all the equipment it needs to make the repair.
Many times, we have to call a tree-trimming crew to the site to remove tree limbs or entire trees before we can even get to the power lines.
In severe emergencies, we bring in additional help, including technicians and other Duquesne Light workers, crews from other power companies, and private contractors.
When the repairs have been made, our Call Center representatives call some of the customers in areas effected by the power outage to make sure their electric service has been restored.
We've carefully prioritized restoration activities to take action in the most efficient way possible.