Power outages are never convenient. Sometimes, it’s no mystery why we are left in the dark, like when a storm rattles windows and walls. Other times, an outage may come out of the blue.

We never want to leave our members in the dark but acts of Mother Nature and man can’t be helped. When Warren County REMC performs maintenance or construction, we plan for as little disruption as possible.

The length of time it takes to restore power will vary by the cause, but we do our best to share outage information through our social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as our SmartHub app. If you find yourself without power, here are some of the most common causes we will be facing.

Weather: The most common cause for power outages is Mother Nature. Ice, snow and high winds all can conspire to cause widespread damage. Extremely hot weather can cause power outages, too, as unusually high demand can overburden transformers and other electrical equipment, causing them to fail. Lightning strikes can cause major damage to electrical equipment, wires and poles.

Trees: During high winds, snow and ice, tree limbs can snap or entire trees can topple onto power lines.

Accidents: A vehicle hitting a utility pole can break the pole and knock lines from their overhead perch. Excavation work can disturb buried electric service lines, causing an outage.

Animals: Squirrels, raccoons and other small animals and birds can climb on poles and electrical equipment, which may cause a short circuit or equipment to shut down.

Vandalism: People shooting at insulators and transformers is a sad cause for power outages in rural areas. Thieves also steal copper wire and other pieces of electrical equipment which can cause outages. Both acts of vandalism can be extremely costly and deadly.

Planned outages: If Warren County REMC is performing maintenance or upgrading our equipment, we may need to temporarily turn off the power. We will try to notify affected members in advance of a planned outage.

We appreciate your support and understanding as we work as efficiently — and safely — as possible to restore power after an outage.