Power Restoration

Grady EMC’s primary focus is the safe, reliable delivery of power to our members throughout Grady, Thomas and Decatur Counties.  

We have designed our system to withstand small storms or interruptions but sometimes, severe weather, vehicle accidents or other unforeseen events may trigger an outage.  When a power outage happens, Grady EMC utilizes various technologies around the clock to analyze our system to determine the extent of the damage and the steps we need to take to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.  At each step, we prioritize the jobs that help restore power to the most people. We greatly appreciate your patience while we move through these steps to restore power to everyone.

Step 1 –Transmission towers and lines supply power to one or more transmission substations. These lines seldom fail, but they can be damaged by an earthquake, hurricane or tornado. Tens of thousands of people could be served by one high-voltage transmission line, so if there is damage here, it gets attention first.

Step 2 –Grady EMC has 15 local distribution substations, each serving thousands of members. When a major outage occurs, the local distribution substations are checked first. A problem here could be caused by failure in the transmission system supplying the substation. If the problem can be corrected at the substation level, power may be restored to a large number of people.

Step 3 –Main distribution supply lines are checked next if the problem cannot be isolated at the substation. These supply lines carry electricity away from the substation to a group of members, such as a town or housing development. When power is restored at this stage, all members served by this supply line could see the lights come on, as long as there is no additional problem down the line.

Step 4 –The final supply lines, called tap lines, carry power to the utility poles or underground transformers outside houses or other buildings. Line crews fix the remaining outages based on restoring service to the greatest number of members.

Step 5 –Sometimes, damage will occur on the service line between your house and the transformer on the nearby pole. This can explain why you have no power when your neighbor does. Grady EMC needs to know you have an outage here, so a service crew can repair it.

When an outage occurs, Grady EMC’s crews respond as quickly and safely as possible. Thank you for your patience!