Storm Center & Power Outages - Santee Cooper

Jun 25, 2025

Storm Center allows you to report, view and check on the status of outages. Learn more below about power restoration, outdoor lighting outages, partial power issues, and planned outages and our Special Medical Needs Program for priority consideration during power restoration.

To sign up for outage alerts, enroll in MEL.

If you would like to report a power outage, click here. To report a streetlight outage, click here.

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Please take the following steps if you experience a power outage.

Be prepared to provide the following information:

When an outage is reported, our team will respond as soon as possible to restore power to your home or business.

Report problems with a streetlight or other outdoor rental light that is out or cycling on and off. It is helpful to locate the pole number and/or location of the light.

If some lights or appliances in your home or business are working while others are not, you may be experiencing partial power. You should contact a certified electrician to examine your electrical panel and appliances to determine why you’re experiencing partial power.

Santee Cooper takes reliability seriously. To serve you better, we conduct periodic planned outages when necessary to repair and enhance our grid. Turning off power during planned outages ensures our teams’ safety.

Santee Cooper’s Special Medical Needs Program provides extra attention and options to our customers who are on life-support devices or have chronic medical conditions, including Alzheimer’s or dementia, that could be made worse by the loss of electricity. We can tag your meter and account, to help our personnel easily identify Special Medical Needs customers and, if possible, give priority to power restoration during an outage.

Acceptance into this program will allow Santee Cooper to handle your account with special care. Special Medical Needs customers will need to recertify medical status every two years.

Third-Party Notification

The third-party notification allows a third-party contact to be notified when service is scheduled for disconnection. The contact is not responsible for payment of the customer’s bill. The notification is only meant to assist customers with avoiding disconnection.

Special Medical Needs Application or click here to request an application by email or contact us at 800-804-7424 and ask for our Special Medical Needs Coordinator.

Learn more about how you can stay safe around electricity and what you should do before, during and after a storm.

You can turn the power off using the main breaker before you leave. You may want to leave the power on to some electric appliances and equipment, such as the refrigerator.

Not always. If you don't have power, call 888-769-7688 or report it online here.

There are several reasons this might happen:

Storm damage can affect main power lines, individual services, transformers or all of the above. Your individual service may be damaged or your home could be on a different main power line than your neighbors. Finally, it may be that your home needs electrical repairs before you can receive service from Santee Cooper. If you have any doubts, call our outage number at 888-769-7688.

Each outage is different, so it's difficult to be specific. Please be assured that we work aggressively to restore power as quickly as possible after a storm or outage. We know no one likes to be without power, and Santee Cooper employees are committed to providing you with fast, efficient service. You can monitor outages online at our Storm Center.

Generating stations and transmission lines must be repaired first. Next, power is restored to customers who provide essential services to the community, such as hospitals, police stations, fire departments, and water and sewer facilities. Repairs are then made that will return power to the greatest number of customers, such as damaged main feeders. Finally, we restore small groups and individual services. View diagram.

Sometimes damage occurs to a part of the electrical system that is your responsibility, and you must contract with a private, licensed electrician to make repairs. After the electrician has completed the necessary repairs, ask that they immediately contact the local building authority to request an inspection. Please make sure the building authority calls Santee Cooper to let us know the inspection is complete and gives us permission to reconnect your power.

Although most power outages are short-lived and don't require auxiliary power, some customers use portable electric generators for this purpose. To ensure your safety, the safety of those around you and the safety of Santee Cooper line technicians, portable electric generators should be operated according to strict guidelines.

If you have any doubt about the condition of the electrical system, call us at 888-769-7688.

We cannot guarantee your power will not go out, so we encourage you to make arrangements to relocate when storms threaten. With a doctor's written confirmation of your medical need, you can be placed on our Life Line program, which will provide you with a priority status when possible in the event of unexpected outages. Contact your local retail office for more information about Life Line.

Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed. A tight seal on the doors will reduce chances of melting, thawing and food spoilage. Santee Cooper is not responsible for food loss.

First, check the circuit breakers. One of the breakers may have tripped. Next, check to see if the oven or dryer, which are 240-volt appliances, are working properly. If either the oven or the dryer are not working properly, it is advisable to turn off the power to your home at the main breaker. This will eliminate the possibility of any further damage to your electrical appliances and equipment. If both the oven and dryer are working properly and one of the circuit breakers has tripped off, contact a licensed electrician. The problem is internal and must be checked by an electrician.

We use fuses on our system to protect our equipment and lines. The loud noise is a fuse that has blown, which prevents damage to the system.

Santee Cooper's substations are equipped with circuit breakers similar to those in your home. When there is a problem, the breakers trip to prevent damage to the electrical system. The problem could be a tree limb on the line or a lightning strike. Since these problems are normally temporary, our circuit breakers are designed to reset automatically. These outages typically last less than a second, but it can be long enough to cause a digital clock to lose its memory.