Breakers have 3 positions — On, Off, and Tripped. If you lose power to part or all of your home, check the panels on the inside and outside of your home for any breakers that are in the off or tripped position. If the breaker has tripped, simply push it all the way to the Off position and back to the On This should restore power. If the problem continues, you will need to contact a qualified electrician to check for other problems that may be causing the breaker to trip.

The quickest and most efficient way to report your outage to our dispatch office is through our online outage tool. You may also call 252-399-2424and use our automated outage entry system. In either case, you will be asked to enter either the Location # (which can be found in the upper right hand corner of your bill) or the Telephone # associated with your account. This allows the system to select your address from our records and send a notification to the dispatch office informing us of the outage. You will then be given an option to leave a message if there is additional information that you would like us to be aware of.

To ensure that we are aware of an outage at your home, it is always best to report the outage to our dispatch office. This is important because in some circumstances the causes of an outage at your home and at your neighbors’ may be different. See "Why does my neighbor have power, and I don’t?" If we do not have knowledge of both incidents, it may mean that your home will remain without power even after we have restored power to those around you. When using the automated system, you will be informed if there is a known outage that affects the area you live in, and you also will receive a call back once crews have completed their work, verifying that your power has been restored. This allows you to quickly let us know if you are still without power while crews are still in the area.

If this should happen, do not cover the line with dirt… Stop digging! Immediately upon discovery of the damage notify Wilson Energy dispatch office at 399-2432 and NC811. If the damage to a facility results in any of the following:

• Escape of any flammable, toxic, or corrosive gas or liquid
• Endangers life, health, or property
• Discharge of electricity

You must also take reasonable measures to protect yourself, other persons in immediate danger, members of general public, property and the environment until the gas personnel, or emergency responders arrive and complete an assessment of the situation.

Please keep in mind, underground facilities can be damaged by any piece of equipment used for digging. Something as simple as a shovel can gouge, scrape, dent, or crease the casing that surrounds a buried utility line. While this type of damage usually does not cause immediate harm, it may lead to a future break or leak as the protective coating erodes.

If you do not find out where it is safe to dig in your yard, it is quite possible that you will find a buried utility service and potentially create a life threatening situation. Damaging a telephone or fiber optic line may not only cause you inconvenience by the loss of your telephone, cable TV or internet service, but could deprive the neighborhood of emergency assistance. This would make it impossible for law enforcement and emergency personnel to get the information they need to keep you and your community safe. Damaging gas lines could result in serious burn injuries and escaping gas could result in a community evacuation. Damaging an electrical line could cause major burns or electrocution.

For any questions about your bill, starting services, cancelling services, or other account inquiries, please contact our Customer Service department at 252-399-2200 or come by the Customer Service Center at 208 Nash St. NE.

• Customers with Overhead Service —The City of Wilson installs and maintains the lines running from the transformer to the top of the home as well as the electric meter. If any of this equipment is damaged or malfunctioning, the city will repair/replace it at no cost to the customer. The service and meter base on the outside of the home and all electrical components in the home were installed by an electrician and are the responsibility of the customer. In most cases a licensed electrician will be needed to repair this equipment.
  
• Customers with Underground Service —The City of Wilson installs and maintains the underground lines running to either a padmount transformer or pedestal that is typically located at or near the property line. We do not install underground lines to the home. The underground lines running from this point to the home were installed by an electrician and are the responsibility of the customer.

• If your utility bill is not up to date, contact our Customer Service department at 252-399-2162.
• If your bill is not past due, check the following before reporting your outage…
  
  • Check the breakers on the inside and outside of your home. All homes have a panel inside the home and many have one on the outside also, typically located below the electric meter. If any one of the breakers has tripped, it could cause parts or all of your home to lose power. Simply resetting the breaker should restore power. See "How do I check my breakers?" Below.
  • Check with neighbors to see if they are without power also. Typically when multiple customers are without power in the same area, this indicates a larger problem that our service crews will need to respond to.

To report your outage to our dispatch office, either use our online outage tool or call 252-399-2444. We are staffed 24/7 and will work to restore power as quickly as possible.

• Wilson Energy operates several tree crews responsible for maintaining clearance around the large number of primary lines we have throughout the county. Primary lines are the main lines that typically run parallel to the street. Over the course of the year, these crews make their way through the county trimming around the lines in specific areas. However if there is an urgent situation that may endanger a primary line, please report it to the dispatch office at 252-399-2424.
• Wilson Energy does not maintain the same clearance around service lines that run to each home. For trees that are on private property and are growing close to or touching the service lines, you will need to contact a private tree service to either trim or remove the trees. We will however temporarily remove our service line at no cost, in order for the work to be completed safely. Please contact our dispatch office at 252-399-2424 to schedule an appointment for the service to be removed. We require a minimum 24 hour notice when scheduling these appointments. Please note, that our dispatch office is available to schedule these appointments 24/7. However, the time of the appointment must fall between the hours of 8:00 am and 3:30 pm Monday – Friday.

To schedule an appointment for either of these services, or for any questions you may have, please contact 252-399-2413.

• You may have a tripped breaker or an inside problem that requires an electrician.
• The individual service that feeds your home may have been damaged.
• You may be on a different transformer or possibly even a different circuit than your neighbor.

In any of these cases, once you have checked your breakers, report your outage by using our online outage tool or by calling 252-399-2444 and we will dispatch an available crew as soon as possible.

The Gas Division does not install appliances. A contractor is needed to install any appliances an occupant wishes to connect to natural gas, as well as any house piping that is necessary. The Gas Division will not recommend contractors for these services.

The Gas Division relights pilot lights only if:

• The meter has been changed out.
• Routine maintenance has been performed on meter equipment.
• Routine maintenance has been performed on gas lines.

When a meter is turned off due to a leak on the customer piping, the Gas Division is not responsible for turning the gas back on and relighting pilot lights after the leak has been repaired.

• Miles of Distribution Mains – approximately 402.39
• Number of Natural Gas Services – 15,441

***As of February 8, 2019***

The BTU content for the different forms of energy were obtained from the U.S. Department of Energy’s website.

A BTU (British Thermal Unit) is the amount of heat required to raise one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit.