Power loss - emergency and safety information

A major goal of Mason County PUD No. 3 is to maintain safe and reliable electric service. Despite our efforts, power outages do occur.

To assure reliable service, we have on-call personnel available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In the event of a widespread power failure caused by a storm or other natural causes, crews will be called to correct the problem. If an outage occurs in your neighborhood, call PUD 3 at (360) 432-1533 (Shelton), (360) 275-2833 (Belfair) or (360) 861-4247 (Elma).

If the lights go out

• Check with your neighbors to see if they have electricity.
• Check your service panel for tripped breakers.
• Report location of service and time of outage to PUD office. Shelton - (360) 432-1533 Belfair - (360) 275-2833 Elma - (360) 861-4247.
• Turn off and unplug sensitive equipment such as computers, VCRs and DVD players.
• Also turn off equipment with motors, such as furnaces. Once the power has been restored, it is recommended that you wait 20 minutes before turning on your equipment.
• Turn on the porch light so PUD crews will know when power has been restored.

PUD phones are staffed around the clock, but the lines may be very busy during outages. If you get a busy signal, wait a few minutes and try again. The more information we receive from our customers, the faster we can identify and correct the cause of the power outage.

Downed power lines

Please report a fallen power line by calling the PUD at 360-426-8255 (Shelton), 360-275-2833 (Belfair), 360-861-4247 (Elma) or 911.

NEVER touch fallen lines or anything under them. All power lines should be treated with extreme caution. Always assume electric wires are energized.

You may assist the PUD by keeping others clear of the fallen lines until the work crews arrive.

Keeping food during an extended outage.

During an outage, open the refrigerator and freezer doors as seldom as possible and try not to leave them open very long.

Food will stay frozen for about 72 hours in an unopened, non-operating freezer. It helps to cover freezers with blankets and quilts.

Follow Major Outages Online via Twitter

PUD 3 uses the online message service “Twitter” as an added way to provide customers and employees with updates on major outages. One advantage is that users can have message updates sent to their cell phones.

Twitter is a free service that allows for the posting of short notes, called “Tweets” that will alert people who have a Twitter account each time messages are added.

Signing up at twitter.com is easy. Once a person is registered, they can follow messages posted by the PUD on the Internet or tell the service to send text messages to their cell phone.

To see messages that have been posted, you can go to www.twitter.com/pud3.

Local and Regional Media

During major outages Mason County PUD No. 3 sends regular updates to the news media:

• Mason County PUD No. 3 Website
• KMAS Radio, Shelton
• KGY Radio, Olympia
• KXXO Radio, Olympia
• KIRO Broadcasting
• KING-TV
• KOMO Broadcasting
• KCPQ-TV
• Mason Web TV, Online News
• The Olympian Newspaper
• Kitsap Sun Newspaper
• Shelton-Mason County Journal
• Shelton Life
• North Mason Life