If your lights briefly dim or flicker during or immediately following stormy weather, don’t worry.

These incidents are a normal occurrence as OUC’s electrical grid isolates damaged circuits to minimize larger outages. Often, these events involve power lines that have been impacted by high winds, flying debris or vegetation, such as falling trees or tree limbs.

Dim or flickering lights do not indicate a weakness or fault in OUC’s system. You do not have to call OUC to report these incidents.

However, if your service outage lasts more than 10 minutes this indicates a sustained power outage and should be reported to OUC.

There are multiple ways to report an outage:

  • Text

Use your mobile device to text OUT to 69682 (myOUC). You’ll receive updates via text about the outage cause and an estimated time of restoration.

  • Online

Log In to your myOUC account and follow the links to report the outage.

  • Phone

Use our 24-hour outage reporting line by calling 407-423-9018.

In case of an outage, OUC crews will respond quickly to restore power promptly and safely.

Preventing Outages Before They Happen

OUC also takes a proactive approach to reduce the number and severity of outages, as well as get customers back up and running after an issue.

This includes conducting ongoing, systematic tree-trimming throughout the year in our entire electrical system to limit both momentary and extended outages. (Wildlife protection is installed at overhead transformer locations.)

About 20% of unplanned outages are caused by vegetation interacting with powerlines, most often during intense storms. If you notice a tree interfering with power lines, you should contact OUC as soon as possible.

OUC has also installed “self-healing” smart grid technology in key areas of the electric infrastructure.

Smart Grid technology like this improves grid reliability and minimizes the number of customers impacted by an outage.

This system automatically reconfigures the flow of electricity after a fault occurs so fewer customers are impacted by an outage. It also locates the area of a fault, which helps crews save time on finding and repairing damaged power lines so all impacted customers have power restored as quickly as possible.

It’s all part of OUC’s year-round efforts to improve system reliability and grid resiliency through storm-hardening projects and other initiatives.