Power, Storm Response Operations, and Holiday Update - 6/16/2022

Following a second storm in Madison Gas and Electric’s (MGE) service territory Wednesday evening, crews continue working to restore power to impacted customers.

As of 11:45 a.m., about 380 customers are without service. Crews have been able to make significant progress since restoration efforts began Monday, restoring more than 23,500, or more than 98%, of customers impacted by the storms. There are still about 90 separate outage incidents remaining—down from more than 300. We do continue to see some additional incidents as trees and tree branches weakened from the storms fall on power lines.

On Wednesday, MGE resumed estimated restoration times for outages impacting more than one customer. The actual restoration times for single customer outage incidents may occur earlier than indicated online. We encourage customers to check our outage map and outage information page for updates as restoration work continues.

Extensive restoration effort

We are thankful to our community for their continued patience in what has been an extraordinary situation. We also thank our MGE crews, mutual assistance and contractor crews for working tirelessly to help restore service to our customers.

MGE and mutual assistance and contractor crews continue to replace broken poles and address unresolved incidents, many of which require extensive restoration work but impact few customers, making for a more significant restoration effort than we have experienced in recent years.

Why is restoration taking so long?
Monday’s storm resulted in the largest number of individual outage incidents MGE has experienced at one time. Each incident represents a location with varying complexity to restore service. The biggest challenges with Monday’s event have been the high volume of downed lines, the large number of separate outage incidents and new outages resulting from weakened trees and branches falling on power lines.
 
Downed lines
Public safety is our first priority. We remind everyone to stay clear of damaged areas and never approach a downed power line or anything that comes in contact with it. Always assume a power line is energized and extremely dangerous and stay away. If you see a downed line, please notify MGE immediately by calling (608) 252-7111. Visit our safety page to learn more.
 
Report an outage
Customers who have not yet reported a loss of power should call MGE at (608) 252-7111 to report an outage or any incidents of downed wires.

Service restoration  
All outage restoration follows a five-step process. In small incidents, these steps are often done by a single crew and can be accomplished very quickly. In major outages, however, several parts of the company become involved. Learn more about our process.
 
Sometimes you may notice an MGE vehicle or employee/crew in your neighborhood for a while without your service being restored. Here are some of the reasons:

• They are doing damage assessment and reporting the situation back to our dispatch center. They may even leave your neighborhood before service is restored.
• They are monitoring a downed line until a crew can come and make the situation safe.
• They are waiting for the electrical system to be switched so they can work on it.
• They are waiting for additional equipment or materials to complete the job.

If you have damage to electric lines  
Check our storm and outage FAQ page. If you have damage to the electric lines coming into your home, this page includes a graphic showing what equipment MGE owns and what equipment you own. Customers with damage to their equipment will need to have an electrician make repairs first, then contact us to have our personnel return to restore service. 

Crews will be out on Saturday early. Be cautious if using to Olin Avenue drop-off site on June 18, 2022.

Clean-up operations from the June 13 storm will continue through the week and onto Saturday. Collection will resume next week following the Juneteenth holiday.

Residents planning on using the Olin Avenue drop-off site on Saturday, June 18, 2022 should be prepared for large vehicle traffic, dust, noise, and potential delays. You may want to choose either the Sycamore Avenue or South Point Road drop-off sites.

Update on Operations
Urban Forestry crews are still working on clearing sidewalks, addressing broken branches, and related tree damage. New reports of damage are still coming in related to the Monday storm and the most recent round of thunderstorms that arrived the evening of June 15. And Streets Division crews are continuing their collection of storm brush as well. 

In response to the storm up into the morning of June 16, the Streets Division has received 419.27 tons of brush into our brush processing center related to the storm. With several days of collection, pruning, and removal operations still ahead of the Streets and Urban Forestry crews, this number will continue to grow.

Saturday June 18 Operations Start at 6:00am
Urban Forestry and Streets Division crews will begin work at 6:00am on Saturday. Crews will be performing trimming and collection operations.

As such, residents may hear some loud equipment as saws and wood chippers will be active in residential areas Saturday morning.

On Saturday, residents with large piles of brush may see Streets Division chipper crews drive past piles without collecting them. This is normal operations for chipper crews.

Piles of brush that are too large for chipper crews, or piles would take them too long for them to process, are instead assigned to a truck-mounted crane vehicle to collect later.

Be Cautious Using the 121 E. Olin Avenue Drop-off Site on Saturday, June 18
Residents planning on using the drop-off site at 121 E. Olin Avenue on Saturday, June 18 may want to elect to use one of the other two drop-off sites. The Olin Ave site will be open, however, there will be complications.

The E. Olin Avenue also serves at the brush processing facility for the Streets and Urban Forestry. Since crews will be working on Saturday June 18 collecting and hauling brush, there will be an increase of large vehicle traffic through the site.

Also, in an effort to keep up with the influx of woody material coming to the processing site, the Streets Division intends on using the large wood chipper to grind brush into mulch. This will be noisy and it will potentially generate dust.

The Streets Division has two other drop-off sites that will also be open on Saturday, June 18, 2022.

Both of these sites will accept all of the material that could be dropped off at the Olin Avenue facility.

The other two drop-off sites are located at 4602 Sycamore Avenue and 402 South Point Rd. Both sites will be open on June 18, 2022 from 9:00am to 4:00pm.

Juneteenth Holiday Impact on Clean Up Operations
The Streets Division drop-off site at 121 E. Olin Avenue will be closed on Sunday, June 19, 2022.

On Monday, June 20, there will be no curbside collections from the Streets Division, and all three drop-off sites will be closed.

On Tuesday, June 21 the drop-off sites reopen and curbside collections resume.

Residents who have a Monday and Tuesday trash and recycling collection should have their carts out to the curb for pickup by 6:30am on Tuesday, June 21. This is the normal procedure following a holiday.

If you are assigned to place your cart (or carts) out for pickup on June 21, and your cart is not emptied at the regular time – keep the cart out for collection. The cart will be emptied, however some collection of trash and recycling may be delayed until Wednesday, June 22.

As staff is reassigned from other duties to assist with brush collection, it leaves fewer operators available to perform the make-up collection that typically follows a holiday.

The Streets Division will make every effort to collect the carts scheduled to be placed to the curb on June 21, 2022, but unfortunately there may be delays.

Additional Details
More information about the Urban Forestry operations, brush collection, drop-off sites, the trash & recycling collection schedule, and brush processing operations can all be found via the Streets Division’s website, www.cityofmadison.com/Streets.

Administrative offices are closed on Monday, June 20, 2022 for Juneteenth. Emergency services will be open; please call 911. You may use Report a Problem for non-emergencies.

Metro Transit will operate standard service on Juneteenth, Sunday, June 19, and on the observed holiday of Monday, June 20, with the exception of Route 80 and 84 UW Campus service.

On Sunday, June 19, buses follow regular weekend schedules on the following routes:
2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 26, 30, 31, 32, 36, 40, 50, 51, 59, 63, 67, 68, 78.

• UW Campus Route 80 runs regular weekend recess schedule. Routes 81-84 do not operate.

On Monday, June 20, buses follow standard weekday schedules on the following routes:
2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 36, 38, 39, 40, 44, 48, 49, 50, 51, 55, 67, 70, 72, 73, 75.

• *Route 80 operates shortened Weekday Recess schedule, final scheduled trip departs Memorial Union at 11:15p. Routes 81-84 do not operate.
   

Paratransit Service
Paratransit will operate regular, standard service on Sunday and Monday. All standing rides will remain in place. To cancel a standing ride for Sunday or Monday, please call 608-266-4466.

Customer Service Hours
Metro's customer service center will be open from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 19 and Monday, June 20. Metro's administration office will be closed on Monday for the observed holiday.

If you have questions, comments, suggestions, etc., feel free to reach out: district19@cityofmadison.com

-Keith F