What to do at your home
- Check your fuse or breaker box for blown fuses or tripped circuits. If they’re OK, check to see if your neighbors are without power.
- Call PGE immediately to report the outage (see numbers below). Please call only once so other customers can get through.
- Turn off all electrical equipment, including your water heater, electric furnace or heaters, stove, washer and dryer, stereo and TV, to help prevent overloading the system when power is restored. (Major appliances can be turned off at the breaker box.) Do however, turn on a porch light and one inside light so you and PGE’s crews will know when service is restored.
- Listen to a battery-powered radio for outage updates. You can also call PGE for updated information.
- If your neighbor’s power comes back on but yours does not, call PGE again.
- If your lights are very dim or bright once power is restored, turn off the power at the breaker or fuse box and call PGE.
What to do at your business
- Check for blown fuses or tripped circuits. If these are okay, see if neighboring businesses are without power.
- Call PGE immediately. You may be asked for information, or you may hear a message if the situation has already been reported. Please call only once to keep lines open for other customers.
- Check for downed utility lines outside your facility and keep people away.
- Turn off electrical equipment, especially machinery with motors, to reduce the electrical load when power is restored. Do not operate machinery if ventilation, safety or fire suppression systems are not working.
- Keep refrigerators and freezers closed to minimize food loss.
- Listen to a battery-powered radio for updates on major storm outages.
- Call PGE again if power is restored to neighboring businesses but not yours.
- If your lights are very dim or bright once power is restored, or if some equipment doesn’t operate properly, turn off the power at the service panel and call PGE.
Get more outage advice for your business on preparing for outages, minimizing disruptions and protecting equipment.
How to report an outage
If your power goes out, call PGE at 503-464-7777 in Portland or 800-544-1795 outside the Portland area. Our automated outage reporting system will give you up-to-the-minute information about the outage.
If you talk to a customer service representative, it will be helpful if you can provide any of the following information:
- Are your lights dim or out?
- Are your neighbors’ lights out?
- Is a power line down?
- Did a tree limb fall on a power line?
- Is there any damage to the utility pole?
- Are the streetlights out?
- Did you hear a noise?
More resources and advice