Power Outage Information

Why is an automated outage line faster than talking to a live person?

We encourage members to use 1-800-358-9437 whenever they need to report a power outage, especially during severe storms. Roanoke has 80 employees, with many of those working in outside jobs (i.e. line personnel, staking technicians, metering technicians, etc.). This leaves a small number of inside employees to staff telephones.

The reality is that no utility could ever staff enough employees to personally answer each trouble call that came in during a power outage. During a power outage, and depending upon its severity, anywhere from 1 to thousands of members could call at once to report their outage. Utilities are faced with the option of either letting their members hear a busy signal or giving them an automated system to immediately answer and report their outage.

The automated system is the most effective way to report an outage. It can handle more calls at once than our entire staff, usually without a busy signal. The system identifies the caller by their phone number. If we have a phone number match then all info concerning that billing address is immediately available to the dispatcher to send out to the crews in the field. If their is no match to the phone number the system will prompt the caller to leave a detail message including the billing name, location, and any info that might help restore power or locate the problem. All messages are checked and callbacks are started once power is restored to insure that everyone is back on.