EXPLAINER: OPPD offers information on outage repair processes (2024)

OPPD has about 1,000 people working, with crews, contractors and mutual aid partners scattered throughout their service area.

Published: Aug. 2, 2024 at 11:34 PM CDT

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Omaha Public Power District has been working through the night each night since Wednesday’s big storm ravaged the city.

At its peak, the subsequent outage left more 220,000 OPPD customers without power. The utility called it “historic.”

In a news conference on Thursday morning, an OPPD spokesman said full restoration to all customers affected by the July 31 storm outage could take up to eight days — until Thursday, Aug. 8 — particularly for those in heavily damaged areas. OPPD was targeting 50% restoration by Friday, noting later that night that they were ahead of schedule.

By 10 p.m. Friday, approximately 75% of customers initially impacted by the massive outage had been restored.

The past few days, many have posted their frustations about the outage — and with OPPD — complaining they lack information about when their power will be restored. 6 News gathered information that OPPD has been sharing with the public, and with us during the course of our reporting on the aftermath.

Why isn’t OPPD providing customers with specific estimated restoration times?

“Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a specific restoration time for your home due to the extent of the damage we’re encountering,” OPPD said in a Friday update on its Storm and Outage Center page. “...We hope it’s sooner and will work very hard to get you back up as soon as possible, but we want everyone to be able to make alternative plans if needed.”

How does OPPD prioritize whose power gets restored when?

OPPD said it does not prioritize areas of town when it comes to power restoration. “Our crews work on repairs that will restore the greatest number of customers first and then make their way down to more individual, lengthy repairs,” they said in a Friday update on their Storm and Outage page.

The utility said they have a process they follow to help as many customers as possible as quickly as possible.

Here’s how they described the process:

1. Crews repair the main transmission lines from our substations, as these fixes quickly restore service to most people.
2. Crews assess damage and prioritize remaining repairs. Public safety and emergency response facilities, such as police, fire, hospital trauma centers, and related infrastructure, are prioritized due to the life-saving services they provide.
3. Crews focus on addressing circuit lockouts. These aren’t always simple to repair, but they tend to bring large numbers of customers back online. The number of customers on a circuit can range from several hundred to several thousand.
4. After circuit repairs, crews move to repair tap lines that serve small groups of homes and/or apartments. If your neighbors have power and you don’t, you might be on a different circuit, or the service line feeding your home or apartment building may have been damaged.
5. Finally, crews pivot to individual repairs after we’ve restored all distribution main and tap lines. In widespread outages like this, this can be the most time-consuming and dangerous work. OPPD crews will untangle lines from fallen trees, but they cannot clear tree branches. We work as safely and speedily as we can while we work with customers and other services during the restoration process.

Why is it taking so long to restore power?

“Much of the remaining work can be complicated and time-consuming. Often, we’re fixing equipment at the neighborhood level,” OPPD said in a Friday update.

Wednesday’s severe weather did a lot of damage over a large area, “and the extent of the damage makes that a big challenge.”

Why does my neighbor have power but I don’t?

OPPD said its network of localized distribution circuits don’t follow specific streets or landmarks. Local circuits and other devices help isolate the number of customers affected during outages and limit how many affected before an entire circuit loses power.

“Imagine a circuit breaker in your home, which lets you turn off power to one room without affecting the rest of the house,” OPPD said.

What do red “flags” on a property mean?

A spokeswoman with Omaha Public Power District told 6 News that flags like these are “utility speak,” and serve as a code among crews that raises awareness in an area.

But it doesn’t mean “danger.”

If the area was hazardous, it would be blocked off, the spokewoman said.

OPPD isn’t using this sort of “flagging,” she said, but it could be another utility group that is part of the mutual aid effort.

Why does power go on and off during restoration efforts?

Sometimes, major storms can cause damage that doesn’t lead to an outage right away. A branch that was hanging loosely after a storm might fall suddenly onto a line. Perhaps a piece of equipment gets damaged by wind, but doesn’t fail right away. Or maybe you’re experiencing an outage not related to the storm. To report an outage, contact OPPD online or via the OPPDconnect app; or call 1-800-554-OPPD (6773).

What should I do if I see a downed line?

Stay away! Assume any downed power line you see is live.

If the line is on a public sidewalk or street, call 911.

If the line is on private property, report it to OPPD online or via the OPPDconnect app; or call 1-800-554-OPPD (6773).

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Reporter Bella Caracta contributed to this story.

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