Step 1-
Transmission poles and lines supply power to Hatteras Island. A 115kv line goes to Buxton and a 34.5kv line goes from Buxton to Hatteras. Although these lines rarely fail they are critical to the delivery of power to the entire Island. There are two transmission substations that serve CHEC consumers. One is located north of Oregon Inlet and the other is located in Buxton. These lines and substations get attention first to ensure there is no damage.

Step 2-
Our coop has five distribution substations. They are located in Waves, which serves Rodanthe-Waves-Salvo, Avon, Buxton, Frisco, and Hatteras. When a major outage occurs, the local distribution substations are checked first. A problem here could be caused by failure in the transmission system supplying the substation. If the problem can be corrected at the substation level, power may be restored to a large number of consumers located within the village.

Step 3-
If the problem cannot be isolated at the substation the main distribution supply lines are checked next. These supply lines carry electricity away from the substation to a group of consumers. When the power is restored at this stage, all consumers served by this supply line could see the lights come on, as long as there is no problem farther down the line.

Step 4-
The final supply lines, called tap lines, carry power to the utility poles or underground transformers outside houses or other buildings. Line crews fix the remaining outages based on restoring service to the greatest number of consumers.

Step 5-
Sometimes, damage will occur on the service line between your house and the transformer on the nearby pole. This may explain why you have no power when your neighbor does. We need to know you have an outage here, so a service crew can repair it.