"Winken, Blinken, and Nod one night Sailed off in a wooden shoe….."
Although those introductory words from the poem by Eugene Field bring comfort to many young toddlers at bedtime, being greeted by "Winken and Blinken" lights on microwave ovens, televisions and VCR’s bring to mind  something other than comfort to most adults.

Blinks have been a common occurrence in the power industry for years, but until recently there were no digital clocks to record them for us.

The question today is where do those blinks come from?  The answer lies in the fact that in order to provide the most reliable service possible, your Cooperative uses circuit protective devices known as reclosers, which operate in a manner similar to the circuit breakers that protect your home’s wiring.  However, when a fault occurs in your home’s wiring system and the breaker trips, you or your electrician have to manually close the breaker after the overload situation has been corrected.  When a fault occurs on your Cooperative’s electric system, our breakers open momentarily and then the device "recloses" itself automatically .

The thought behind this advanced technology is to avoid unnecessary power outages which might occur due to temporary short circuit conditions such as tree limbs brushing against power lines, or other momentary faults such as  lightning strikes.

Typically, a power line recloser will provide up to three blinks or momentary outages before totally disconnecting the electricity to the affected area.  However, once the device totally disconnects the power, line personnel must be dispatched to locate and repair the problem before power can be restored.

So if you occasionally come home and discover those multicolored electronic digits winking and blinking at you, it simply means that the technology installed on Cooperative lines has prevented a total power failure in your area.

If you, however, are experiencing this type of greeting on a daily basis, or more frequently, please contact us and we’ll dispatch personnel to locate and repair the problem.

After all, we want to "Keep the lights on for you" and we don’t want your lights to blink any more than absolutely necessary.