Weather related events cause 70 percent of all power outages. That includes thunderstorms, ice storms, heavy winds, and lightning strikes, as well as other natural disasters like floods, hurricanes or tornadoes. The remaining outages are caused by animals contacting wires, auto accidents damaging poles or other equipment, and other unknown factors. Here’s the breakdown:
- 70 percent weather related
- 11 percent animals contacting wires
- 11 percent unknown
- 4 percent auto accidents
- 4 percent human error
*Total exceeds 100% due to rounding
Source: Edison Electric Institute 1998
Power outages may vary by season, and can last from minutes to hours, even days depending on the severity of the event. In any outage, BGE employees work around the clock, in often dangerous weather conditions, to fix the problem as quickly as possible.
What’s the difference between a power outage and a momentary interruption?
- A momentary interruption is a split-second interruption in service.
- It’s a normal part of your service and it actually helps prevent longer outages.
- It is caused by automatic sensing equipment detecting a potentially dangerous situation like a limb falling on a wire
- The outage is hardly noticeable, but could be detected by sensitive electronics and clocks.
