When severe weather hits, we respond quickly and make repairs that restore service to the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time. Who gets their power restored first? How do we make those decisions?  Bartholomew County REMC’s intent is to restore power as quickly and as safely as possible. These are the steps we take when deciding where to send crews during a widespread outage.

Substations/Transmission Lines/Emergencies

BCREMC has nine substations and two metering points where electricity is sent out over the distribution lines. Any problems with the substations or the transmission lines getting the power to that substation must be attended to first before other damages can be detected and repaired.  During this time, we also respond to emergency accident situations as well. 

Main Distribution Lines

Distribution lines carry electricity from substations to homes, farms and businesses. BCREMC checks its main distribution lines if the problem doesn’t involve a transmission line or substation.

Supply Lines

BCREMC’s main distribution lines branch off into final supply lines, which are often called tap lines. The crews work supply line outages to restore electricity to the greatest number of members at one time.

Individual Outages

Sometimes a problem lies at an individual transformer or on a tap line that serves one meter. These are usually the last to be restored, unless a crew is working on supply line outages in the same area. During a storm, trees are normally the culprit to these individual outages.

Our greatest concern is keeping our members safe and well informed so they can understand and handle outage situations. During widespread outages BCREMC will release news bulletins to the local area radio stations. Also, like BCREMC on Facebook for current updates and check the website www.bcremc.com for the live outage map.

Stay Away From Power Lines

Follow these tips to stay safe if you encounter a downed power line:

• Never touch a downed power line or go near one.
• Enjoy kites and balloons away from power lines. Never try to retrieve anything on your own near a power line.
• Look up before carrying tall ladders to prevent 
• contact with power lines.
• Stay in the car and call 911 if your car comes in contact with a live wire.
• Never climb or trim trees near power lines. 
• Contact us for tree trimming.