Emergencies - What To Do

Preparing for an Outage

When the power goes out, it can last for minutes, hours, or sometimes even days. The outage can disrupt communications, water, transportation, stores, banks, and other services. It can also impact your lighting, heating, cooling, food, and medical needs.

Preparing for outages before they occur can help reduce discomfort when the power goes out. Follow the tips below to help you and your family prepare for outages:

• Keep your contact information up to date so you can receive outage and emergency alerts from Liberty.
  Update My Contact Information
• Put together an emergency kit to address the needs of your family and your pets. Use our checklist at the button below to help get started.
  Emergency Preparedness Checklist
• Plan for medical needs that may be impacted by a loss of power.
• Keep your cell phones and other electronic devices fully charged. You may want to consider purchasing a back-up battery device.
• Store at least a 48-hour supply of non-perishable food and water.
• Keep cash on hand for emergency purchases, as ATMs and bank services may be impacted during an outage.
• Plan for heating and/or cooling for your home.

Source: Red Cross

What To Do During an Outage

Liberty crews work year-round to prevent outages, but outages may still occur. Outages may be planned in advance for crews to upgrade infrastructure, or they may be unplanned as a result of a car accident, storm, animal contact, or other reasons.  

While our crews work to restore power as quickly and as safely as possible, there are some steps you can take to help reduce damage and discomfort during an outage.

• If the power goes off during cold weather, keep all doors closed to keep the heat inside. Have your family dress warmly, gather blankets/sleeping bags and stay together in the same room or area. Even in very cold weather, the house should stay comfortable for several hours.
• Keep your refrigerator and freezer closed as much as possible. The contents should be good for many hours if the door is kept closed.
• Turn off all electrical appliances, including computers and peripherals, especially those that generate heat. This helps prevent hazards or damage when service is restored.
• Turn off all lights except one inside your home or business and one outside. The inside light is an indicator for you and the outside light is an indicator for Liberty crews to know when the power is back on.

When power has been restored, please conserve electricity in the first couple hours to prevent further outages.

Claims

Liberty makes every effort to provide safe and reliable electric service to our customers. However, if you believe an electrical event such as a power surge caused damage to your home and/or any electrical appliances, please file a claim with Liberty. Liberty will review and research each claim which takes six to eight weeks.  If you have any questions you may contact our Claims Representitive, Danielle Seibel at 530-721-9679 or danielle.seibel@libertyutilities.com. 

Claims Form

Claims Form (Fillable)