Power outages in Natick

[Nobodybody]

I think a lot of it is greatly affected by where you live within the town. I've lived in one of the more densely settled parts of Natick for about two years, and in that time we lost power once during a winter ice storm last year for almost 24 hours, and once for a 1-2 hours as the result of a car accident. Neighbors in my area say that losing power hasn't been an issue in recent history, and I think that being close to schools/commercial areas/etc. put you as a higher priority for being restored, as opposed to being in a less dense area on the outskirts of the town.


Isn't this a fairly common problem for most of New England due to old infrastructure? Relatives on the South Shore lose power during the winter. In New Hampshire, we lost it for 3 days in a row, with some going without for 1-2 weeks.

[s4v8]

Thanks for the feedback.

The house currently has a transfer switch installed. Maybe I should have taken that as a hint that power goes out often in this area.

Time to think about getting a backup generator. Portable? Natural Gas generator?

[wolfgang239]

Originally Posted by Nobodybody

and I think that being close to schools/commercial areas/etc. put you as a higher priority for being restored, as opposed to being in a less dense area on the outskirts of the town.

Absolutely. Where I work we dispatch storms based upon how many customers can be brought back online, not by severity of damage.

DM84, that is one common exception. Underground cables are also only as good as the equipment back down the line. If you have an ancient breaker, line out of service, etc. an underground cable is useless without a source.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by s4v8

Thanks for the feedback.

The house currently has a transfer switch installed. Maybe I should have taken that as a hint that power goes out often in this area.

Time to think about getting a backup generator. Portable? Natural Gas generator?

A natural gas generator is going to be more expensive but it will start automatically without user intervention if you have an automatic transfer switch.

Portables are nice and cheap but you have to have fuel on hand and you have to go outside to get it up and running, often in poor weather. And if you run out of gas you're SOL.