07/15/2026
⚡ How Your City Power System Works ⚡
Have you ever noticed your lights blink or your power go off for just a few seconds and then come right back on? Here's why.
The City of Weiser maintains and operates its own electric distribution system. We purchase our electricity from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), and it is delivered to our community over Idaho Power's transmission lines to their substation. The City of Weiser has no control over the substation. The substation is owned and operated by Idaho Power. Once the electricity reaches our system, City of Weiser crews distribute it safely to homes and businesses throughout the community.
Our electrical system is designed with automatic safety protection. If something comes into contact with a power line—such as a tree branch, squirrel, bird, or other object—the system will automatically shut off power for a brief moment to protect the equipment and, most importantly, the safety of our line crews.
The system will then automatically attempt to restore power. If the object has fallen clear of the line, your power will come back on and continue operating normally.
If the obstruction remains, the system will make up to three attempts to restore power. If it still detects the problem after the third attempt, the power will remain off until our crews can safely locate and remove the cause.
Many people ask why we can't always tell what caused a brief outage. The answer is simple: if the object falls away during the automatic restoration, the system has successfully cleared the fault, leaving no visible evidence for our crews to find. We only know the exact cause when the outage remains and our crews can locate the object or damaged equipment.
These automatic protection devices are an important part of keeping our electrical system safe, reliable, and protecting both the public and the dedicated employees who work on our power lines.
Thank you for your patience and understanding whenever you experience a brief blink or temporary outage. These safety features are working exactly as they were designed to keep our community's electric system operating safely.
