The power's back — now what?

Bring appliances back gradually, not all at once

While the power is out, turn off or unplug what was running: Ready.gov warns that power may return with momentary surges or spikes that can cause damage, and FirstEnergy asks customers to switch off electronics and appliances with electric motors, such as refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners, to ease the initial load when power is restored. Leave one light on so you know when the power comes back, as FirstEnergy advises. Then bring things back in stages: Idaho Power tells its customers to wait about 10 minutes after the power returns and turn appliances and lighting back on in 10-minute phases, which keeps circuits from overloading and helps restore everyone's power more quickly and safely.

Protect electronics from the surge

Because power can come back with surges or spikes, Ready.gov advises disconnecting appliances and electronics during an outage, and its outage sheet adds surge protection devices; the Red Cross says to make sure you have current surge protectors for household electronics. Don't count on the utility to cover it: SMUD reminds its customers that protecting their electronic equipment against power fluctuations is their responsibility.

Check your food before you eat it

Don't assume it's fine because the lights are back. The CDC says to throw out perishable food in your refrigerator — meat, fish, cut fruits and vegetables, eggs, milk and leftovers — after 4 hours without power or a cold source like ice; that thawed frozen food that still contains ice crystals or is at 40 °F or below can be safely refrozen or cooked; and never to taste food to decide. Full rules are in our food-safety guide.

Look for electrical damage

If you smell burning, see scorched or melted outlets, or the outage involved flooding near the panel or wiring, keep the affected circuits off and call a licensed electrician: the Red Cross's outage checklist says to contact a professional if you have problems once the utilities are back on, and after flooding the Red Cross says to have a qualified electrical inspector check the electrical system.

Partial power — lights suddenly very bright in part of the house and dim in another, or working in one part and not another — is for your utility to hear about: EWEB, Eugene's utility, tells customers who have it to check for a tripped breaker first and, if that doesn't bring the power back, to turn off the main breaker and call to report a partial outage. Power that keeps flashing on and off is reported too (see below).

Know what's whose: at Otter Tail Power, for one, the service line from the pole and the meter are the utility's, while the weatherhead, service mast and meter box are the customer's, to be repaired by a licensed electrician before the utility can safely restore power. And downed wires stay dangerous after the power is "back": they can electrocute you, the Red Cross warns.

Reset and restock

Reset clocks and GFCI outlets, and check that the sump pump, alarms, and any medical equipment are running. If a circuit breaker has tripped, the Red Cross advises having an electrician inspect it before you turn it back on. Recharge phones and power banks, and replace any emergency supplies you used — the next outage plans itself best right after this one.

If it flickers on and off again

Power that comes back and drops again can be part of the repair — crews restore in stages, and SMUD notes that homes on the same block may be fed from different sources and come back at different times, often in small groups. If yours keeps flashing on and off, though, SMUD asks customers to call its outage line, so report it. And if you're told your power is restored but you're still without it, report again: SMUD says a customer in that position is most likely on a secondary outage that still needs to be reported.

Be kind to the compressor

The big motor loads — refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners — are the ones FirstEnergy asks customers to switch off until power is restored, to ease the initial load. Once it steadies, bring them back one at a time, in the phases Idaho Power describes above, instead of all in the first minute.

Restock while it's fresh

The hour after an outage is the best planning moment you'll get: recharge power banks and device batteries, replace used batteries and any discarded food staples, refreeze water bottles, top off or stabilize generator fuel, and note what you actually missed — that list, not a generic one, is your next kit upgrade.

Switching back from generator power

If you ran a portable generator, follow its manual and your transfer switch's instructions to go back to utility power. OSHA's generator fact sheet lists, among its safe work practices, maintaining and operating a portable generator in accordance with the manufacturer's use and safety instructions. Generator power and utility power must never meet — plugging a generator into a wall outlet puts utility workers and neighbors at risk of electrocution, the CPSC warns, and keeping the two apart is what a transfer switch is for. Before refueling it for next time, turn it off and let it cool: the CPSC says gasoline spilled on hot engine parts could ignite.

Check the quiet failures

Some things don't come back on their own. A tripped GFCI or breaker can leave circuits you don't look at daily dead — the garage freezer, the sump pump, irrigation controllers, aquarium equipment — and so can a smart plug that didn't recover. Walk the house once, listen for the compressors and pumps you expect to hear, and reset what you safely can (a tripped breaker gets an electrician's inspection first, per the Red Cross advice above).

How our estimates are graded

Our county-wide estimates are graded in public, on our accuracy page: at each reading after an outage's peak where the time was not withheld and the pace showed a clear recovery, we re-run the live projection, aimed at the moment most customers' power came back (90% restored), and score it against when that actually happened. City and neighborhood estimates are not graded yet.