Have you ever received a notification from Beltrami Electric Cooperative (BEC) informing you of a “planned outage?” You may have wondered, “What is a planned outage?” and “Why does my electric utility need to perform one?” Occasionally, the equipment we use to bring power to your home needs to be replaced, repaired, or updated. When this happens, as a way to keep our crews and you safe, we plan an interruption to electric service.

In reality, there is never a good or convenient time to lose power to your home or business. However, we do our best to select dates and times for planned power outages that pose the least inconvenience to our members. Weather is a huge factor in how we determine planned outage dates, as we don't conduct planned outages in extreme hot or cold temperatures. 

While they may sound slightly inconvenient, planned outages are actually beneficial to you. Regular maintenance on our electrical grid ensures the safe and reliable delivery of power to our members. Like many other systems that require downtime to conduct maintenance, planned power outages are a vital part of the proper upkeep of power lines. By planning outages and maintaining power lines now, we prevent emergency outages in the future. Repairing and upgrading our equipment is also critical to maintaining public safety. If older lines need to be replaced, we plan for it, repair or replace it, and that keeps everyone safe.

Planned outages also allow us to keep you informed of when and how long you will be without power. In most cases, we will notify you in advance, by telephone, before an outage, so you can be prepared. If you don’t receive a phone call notifying you of a planned outage, please contact our office and verify that the primary telephone number is current. Updating your contact information will help to ensure our outage management system works smoothly for reporting an outage as well.

Here at BEC, we want to make sure we are doing everything we can to keep you safe and to keep our system running smoothly. So, the next time you hear about a planned outage, know that it is one of the best ways we can provide you with quality electric service.