Indiana's 5 large electric utilities provide storm outage information online:
- AES Indiana (formerly IPL)
- CenterPoint Energy (formerly Vectren)
- Duke Energy
- Indiana Michigan Power (I&M)
- Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO)
Each electric utility has specific processes for restoring power after a storm causes outages. The processes generally follow these steps:
- First, repairing large transmission lines and restoring power to hospitals, fire and police stations, water treatment plants and other facilities that are essential to public health and safety.
- Secondly, making repairs to major distribution lines that will either restore large areas of customers or make it possible to do so.
- Repairing circuits and distribution lines in neighborhoods.
- Repairing individual lines to single properties.
The OUCC website offers general utility safety tips. For more specific tips on what to do before, during and after a sustained power outage, visit the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, American Red Cross and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention websites.