Preparing for an outage

How to manage outages

Storms, thunders, freezing rain or snow can cause power cuts. Our tips can help you prepare for a power cut and get through the day. You can also use the Message service on Elenia Aina.

Piirroskuva taskulampusta ja paristoista

Light and heat

  • When the power is cut, the lights go off. Keep a torch and spare batteries at hand. Remember to take care with candles.
  • Almost all forms of heating use electricity. You can use a fireplace or hearth to keep your home warm.
  • Keep your doors and windows shut. If the temperature drops inside, cover the windows with blankets and the floors with rugs.
piirroskuva vesipullosta ja trangia-keittimestä

Food and water

  • If there is no power, you can cook with gas, a wood-burning stove, a barbecue or a camp stove.
  • Food will keep outside when the temperature is between 0°C and +6°C.
  • Store some long-life food that does not need to be cooked or baked.
  • Switch off home appliances, especially the stove and sauna stove, to prevent a fire hazard when the power is restored.
  • Avoid opening your fridge or freezer unnecessarily during an outage.
  • The water supply will be cut soon after the start of an outage. Set aside some drinking water.
    If the outage goes on for a long time, the authorities will begin to distribute water.
Piirretty kuva junasta

Shops and traffic

  • Some shops and stores will run on reserve power for a while.
  • Cash machines will not work without power.
  • You cannot buy fuel.
  • Buses, ships and planes will be in operation but most trains will not.
  • Traffic and street lights will turn off.
Piirroskuvassa nainen luurit korvilla ja kannettava tietokone

Finding information

  • If you can access the Internet, you can find a situation update on Elenia’s outage map.
  • Elenia’s fault reporting telephone service is on call 24/7 at 0800 100 100.
  • If necessary, get a UPS device for your desktop computer to prevent it from turning off in the middle of work due to an outage.
  • Consider getting a backup battery; you can use it to recharge your phone without electricity.
  • Radio broadcasts will also work without electricity. You can listen to them using a battery-operated radio or your car radio.
Elenia’s outage map

Remember safety!

  • Storms can cut down trees and throw branches on power lines. Do not attempt to remove them.
  • Do not touch anything that touches a power line or other parts of the electricity network.
  • Maintain a safe distance of 20 metres.
  • The power may be cut and restored several times during outage repairs.
  • If the electricity acts strangely once restored, for example, the lights are brighter or dimmer than normal, the reason may be that the neutral conductor is cut. This may result in damage to equipment, a fire or, in the worst-case-scenario, a shock hazard. If this is the case, cut off power from the main switch. Be careful not to touch the metal parts of the main distribution board. Call our outage management service at 0800 100 100.

Constantly ready for an outage

We maintain a constant readiness in case of outages. Thanks to weather forecasts, storms do not come as a surprise. We begin preparations and perform some measures already before storms and blizzards. Together with our partners, we maintain a constant readiness to repair faults and restore power. The principles pertaining to our preparations and operations regarding disruptions caused by weather phenomena and other exceptional situations are outlined in our contingency plan.

The energy sector works in close cooperation to remain prepared. The government’s safety strategy requires contingency planning from critical infrastructure operators, and we submit our contingency plans regularly to the Energy Authority for review. The replacement of an ageing network with a weatherproof network is reducing the number of outages on an ongoing basis.

Our control centre monitors the electricity network and provides a 24/7 service

The control centre is automatically notified of outages in the medium-voltage network. We are quickly notified of faults in the low-voltage network, primarily by our customers. In case of a disruption, to identify faults, we can contact a smart meter to check if the electricity is connected.

Major disruption manual – increasing the efficiency of outage repairs

Together with our partners, we use a major disruption manual. The manual describes the severity of major disruptions caused by storms, snow loads and thunderstorms of different strengths. The manual provides a summary of the principles of cooperation with regard to the preparations and rules pertaining to the efficient and safe management of major disruptions.