How Does That Work?

Whose responsibility is it? Repairing outage damage to your home

When a major outage occurs, OPPD crews work to restore service as quickly and safely as possible. The utility takes care of the wires that lead from the power pole to the point just before they enter a home’s conduit system.

But homeowners are responsible for any damage to meter sockets or power poles attached to their house. Here’s what you need to know:

Step 1: First, OPPD repairs the main electrical lines coming from the system’s substations. Fixing these lines gets OPPD’s immediate attention, as these repairs will quickly restore service to the most people.

Step 2: Next, we isolate damage and prioritize our repairs. If you see an OPPD truck drive by your house and not stop, don’t worry. They are assessing the problems so crews can work efficiently and safely.

Step 3: Then OPPD repairs tap lines that serve small groups of homes. If your neighbors have power and you don’t, you might be on a different circuit, or the service line feeding your home has been damaged. Individual repairs come after OPPD has restored all distribution and tap lines.

Step 4: Finally, the utility works on individual service lines. In widespread outages, this can be the most time-consuming work of all. OPPD crews will untangle lines from fallen trees, but they cannot remove the trees or clear the branches.

Step 5: Don’t forget: If the electric meter or power pole mast attached to your house is damaged, you need to hire an electrician to make repairs before OPPD can restore your power. OPPD crews may be able to temporarily restore your electricity, but a private electrician must make the permanent repairs. This graphic shows you who is responsible for a repair made to a home.