In the Event of an Outage
If You Have an Outage
You will need to check to see if you have blown a fuse or tripped a breaker in your electrical panel. If this is the problem, please replace the fuse or reset the breaker. You should note that a blown fuse or tripped breaker is a warning that you have either a defective appliance or you have overloaded the electrical circuit. For repair, you will need to call a licensed electrician or an appliance repairman.
If everything is out of power, and the problem is not in your electrical panel or fuse box, check the main breaker which is usually located beside or below the meter in the meter base. If this main breaker is tripped, you can reset it. It also signals that something is wrong on your electrical system. If this does not restore your power, please call us. Before you call us, please check to see if your neighbors have power. This will help us determine how widespread the outage is.
When You Call Us
(406) 541-4433 or (800) 352-5200
You will be asked for your information: Service address, Meter number, Account number, and primary phone number. Please keep this information in an easy to find place. If you know what caused the outage, please describe it (a car hit a pole, tree fell on the line, etc.) This can save us a great deal of time in restoring your power.
If you get a busy signal, please keep trying. We will answer the phones as soon as possible. Once you’ve called in, please do not call back unless your neighbor’s power comes back on and yours does not. In this case, please check your breakers again before calling us back. We will work to restore your service as quickly as possible.
Who You Call
During normal business hours, the numbers listed above ring into our Missoula office. However, after hours, holidays, and weekends these numbers ring through to our after hours dispatch center. You may get an automated attendant which will take your information if all of the operators are busy. Rest assured the information will be dispatched to our lineman who will respond as quickly as possible.
While the Power is Off
Keep the refrigerators and freezers closed as much as possible. Food can keep for at least 24 hours. If an outage should last longer than that, please make arrangements to store your food at another location.
If someone in your home is on life support or oxygen, please don’t wait for an outage to notify us. Call us now at the above numbers and we can note this in your file. These accounts will get priority when services are reconnected. We do suggest that you have a generator available as a precautionary measure.
Scheduled Outages
There are times when we need to do work and we have to turn the power off for the safety of our personnel. We will make every effort to notify you in advance for these outages. This is one reason it is very important for you to keep our information on file up to dates, such as your phone number and mailing address.
