We at Santee Electric Cooperative take pride in the service we provide. We wish the power could stay on all the time, but that is not always possible. Often the power goes out during a storm. View our outage map to see if power has been reported out in your area. If not, you need to report outages to us as quickly as possible. There are several ways to report a power outage.
In most cases, power can be restored quickly. However, when there is an ice storm, tornado, tropical storm, or hurricane in our area, there can be huge amounts of damage. In these cases, there is a process to restoring power and outages may be lengthy.
Click here to see How Your Co-op Restores Power
Keep some emergency items on hand, especially during hurricane season. If you would like to make preparations for this year's hurricane season, one of the best ways is to purchase a emergency backup generator. SEC now offers financing for the purchase of a power generator. To learn more view our Power On Call page.
Things to do before a storm:
- Store away some bottled water. This will be handy if you are on a well that runs off your electric service.
- Keep on hand extra flashlights and a battery-powered radio. Also store some extra batteries for the radio and flashlights. Candles are another item to have on hand.
- Have a good supply of nonperishable food, such as canned goods, powdered milk, dry cereal, and dried fruits.
- Plan for an alternate place to stay. Perhaps there is a relative or friend that may not be affected by a storm the way you would be.
- If you think you might ride out the storm, store away some blankets in case your heat is not working during the outage.
Things to do during a storm:
- Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed while the power is out. The food in your freezer will stay frozen 24 hours if the door remains closed.
- If you see fallen power lines or poles, stay away from them. Let the professional crews from the Co-op repair them.
- Call the Co-op to report your outage. Don't assume someone else will call.
- Once you have called, don't call to report the outage again. This will tie up the phone lines and may block someone from getting through.
- If you can go to a friend's or relative's home that has power, go.