So that little knobby thing that holds your power line to your house got knocked askew from the weekend’s freak snowstorm. Is that your responsibility to fix or the power company’s?
How about those lines coming from the street to your house, the ones being weighted down by broken tree limbs? Whose responsibility is that?
Turns out, you're responsible for that knobby thing, called a clevis, though the power company owns the lines coming from the street. However, if it's your trees on the lines, you are responsible for trimming them and keeping the lines clear, so say officials at Connecticut Light & Power.
Because of the influx of questions about power equipment in the wake of the storm, CL&P has issued a press release today, and a handy graphic, showing which power equipment property owners have responsibility for and which ones the utility has to take care of.
For instance, CL&P is responsible for the repair and maintenance of power lines and connectors that come to your home from the street, but you are responsible for any equipment attached to your house, except for the meter. Some of the electrical equipment on your house that you’re responsible for include the clevis, weatherheads, conduits and conductors.
And while the company is responsible for power lines, if trees are your property knocked down the lines coming to your house, you have to hire someone to clear those trees.
“If repairs are required beyond a simple reattachment of your electrical service to your home, please contact a properly licensed and insured electrical contractor to perform the necessary repairs,” CL&P says in its release. “This should expedite your service restoration.”
There are still hundreds of thousands of utility customers without power still across the state and work from as far away as Alabama, California and British Columbia have arrived to help in the restoration efforts.
CL&P reminds customers using generators to power their homes and businesses to only set them up outdoors. Never use a generator indoors, in an attached garage, a basement, or a crawl space. Avoid using a generator in a partially enclosed inhabited space, even if it is ventilated. Opening doors and windows or using fans will not prevent carbon monoxide build-up. When placing it outdoors, make sure the generator is far from a home's doors, windows and vents. Customers should also have a qualified electrician connect the generator with a transfer switch, so that it is not connected directly to your home’s wiring, otherwise, power can "backfeed," or flow back into the power lines, creating a dangerous situation for the public and for our line crews who may be working nearby.
To report or check on an outage visit CL&P’s website or call 800-286-2000.
