Spring Safety Message: Clear Your Meters
It’s been a tough winter with lots of snow and ice for many customers throughout our service area. By mid-March, the winter of 2022-23 was already the ninth snowiest on record in Duluth. The calendar may say “spring” on March 20, but Minnesotans know that there likely will be more weeks more of wintry weather. Here are some tips to stay safe and prevent damage to your electric meter when clearing snow and ice from around your home.
Look up and be safe
Be aware of your surroundings when clearing snow and ice from your roof and know the location of power lines. Always be cautious around power lines and do not touch them. Always assume that downed wires are energized.
Learn more >Watch for snow and falling icicles
Snow, icicles falling from your eaves, or water dripping from your roof and freezing on your meter socket may interfere with how your electric meter operates and cause it to send an alert to us. If we can’t reach you by phone to ensure that your power is still on, we’ll send a crew to your home to check on the meter. Remember to keep your phone number updated— it’s easy to do in MyAccount.
Safe clearance
In a safe manner from the ground, carefully remove icicles on the section of your roof or gutter that overhangs the meter. Water dripping on meters can freeze and cover the equipment with ice.
You can gently remove accumulating snow by hand but if your meter does become encased in ice, do not try to melt or chip the ice.
Damaged masts
Snow and ice also can take down power lines causing damage to electric meter sockets and masts. Our crews cannot connect to a damaged mast. If your mast is damaged, you’ll need to hire a licensed electrical contractor and have it certified as meeting local codes before we can reconnect your power.
Learn more >
If this is an emergency, call 911 immediately.
Having trouble with outage reporting on the web? We are ready for your call 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-800-30-POWER (307-6937).
