"Massive" is an exercise in hyperbole but these outages last night were significant and widespread, affecting several neighborhoods across DC and Bethesda. And on the hottest day of the year as the "heat index" hit 114 degrees (101 ambient).

By the way, there was not a cloud in the sky. We have not had a drop of rain in several days and no storms whatsoever inside the Beltway.

I was returning home at 9:30 p.m. last night from a short walk with my dog when the outage occured. Fortunately -- and thanks in no small part due to habits ingrained from ETS -- I have a small Fenix flashlight on my dog walking lanyard (which includes a house key, Leatherman, pen). Like everyone carrying a smartphone these days, I have a flashlight app but the last thing I want to do during an outage is burn up my phone battery by using it as a flashlight.

Several neighbors came out onto the sidewalk to discuss the situation and we all reported our outages to Pepco (everyone should call their power company so repair crews know the full magnitude of the situation).

Have you checked to see if your power company has a smartphone app to help with reporting outages and which includes an outage map?

I went inside to discover that everything was out except my stove light and, thankfully, the refrigerator (a weird partial outage on my block similar to one that occured in 2008 on the hottest day of that year). Adjacent blocks were completely out of power but I called a friend a couple blocks over and she still had power so Gidget (now 14 years old) and I went to her house to spend the night in air conditioning.

Thanks to the Petzl Zipka headlamp-wristlamp that I keep in my purse, I swiftly had light, packed an overnight bag and also took my laptops just in case thieves decided to take advantage of the situation.

All's well now -- power was restored at 3:30a -- but will not forget that Pepco equipment malfunction failed me and Gidget on the hottest days of 2016 and 2008.

As always, keep your fuel tank topped off, a flashlight handy and know that at any given moment you may just be a moment away from losing power and all that entails.


http://wjla.com/news/local/massive-pepco-power-outage-in-dc-for-possible-feeder-trouble

Power restored after massive Pepco outage in DC, cause under investigation

BY ABC7 SATURDAY, AUGUST 13TH 2016

WASHINGTON (ABC7) — A massive Pepco outage hit the Washington area Saturday evening, affecting more than 5,000 customers.

"...approximately 5,400 customers lost power due to possible "feeder trouble."



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Good report and well done.

Power outages, even more than wild fires, are a common problem facing everyone who logs into ETS (and all those who don't, as well). Our last one hit just as we were sitting down to dinner one evening. Fortunately, I had a couple of solar lanterns handy which gave a virtual candlelit aura to our meal. Power was back by the time we got to dessert....

Thanks for the tip about checking for an app re the local power company. They do have an app, but with reviews at less than 2 stars it's difficult to justify the download.

Reporting the outage does help. However, I have been told that the "smart" electric meter on my home will indicate a loss of power. I am skeptical about how well it works, so I report the outage by phone anyway.

Even if the meter reports everything accurately, human reports almost certainly influence the priority of repairs.

I have the PG&E number for "no power" reports loaded on my phone and ready to go....

Precisely -- there are only so many repair crews to go around and, like it or not, the squeeky wheels get the grease.

We, too, have the "smart" meters but it's easy to make the call so I take the added precaution.

No one else on the sidewalk with me that night had called Pepco, until I urged them to do so.



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In a city near here three or so years ag,o a couple of streets lost power for a few days. Everybody was complaining to each other, but it continued. Eventually someone called the DNO to find out how much longer, to discover nobody had told them! It was a simple fault fixable in a few minutes. Always call the power supplier.

I am intrigued that your stove and fridge still worked. Why?

My high school was fed by two different grid circuits. The second circuit was part of the measures associated with being an emergency evacuation center. I'm assuming it was the same type of thing that prevents hospitals and other critical facilities from losing power in an outage. It's possible that the fridge and stove was wired to an oddball second circuit instead of the main grid.