Power Outages How IPL Handles Power Restoration

When an outage occurs, IPL first must determine how widespread an area is being affected. If only a small area is affected, crews are dispatched to search for and correct the immediate cause, such as tree limbs hitting against a distribution power line.

If the outage is widespread, IPL first begins by checking substations, then major distribution lines or circuits, then neighborhoods and finally individual lines to customers. Customers should not be discouraged if they see an IPL truck passing by their home during a major outage. More than likely the crew is searching for the problem along a major line, that when corrected, will restore power to the entire neighborhood. Until those lines are restored, it is nearly impossible to identify problems for individual customers.

The best way for customers to help get their power back on during an outage is to call the IPL outage number (816) 325-7550.

During major outages, IPL must initiate its high volume call system in order to handle the large number of incoming calls. The information customers input through their telephone keypad into the high volume system, helps IPL to locate the cause of the outage and restore power as quickly as possible.

In tracking outages, it is important that we have customers' correct phone numbers. If your phone number has changed, but not your address, please call Customer Service at (816) 325-7930 and help us to keep our records updated, in order to better serve you during outages.