At Progress Energy, we believe that reliable power is something our customers should never worry about.  That's why keeping your home or business supplied with continuous power is our top priority.  To achieve this, we constantly monitor and look for ways to improve our power quality and reliability.

What is Power Quality?
Power quality can simply be defined as the normal operation of electrical equipment which you can depend on to keep your household running properly and your business functioning efficiently.  When power quality is affected you may notice a brief interruption of power such as the blinking of your computer or dimming of your lights. 

What is Reliability?
Reliability is a measure of the availability of power, especially during bad weather when your lights may go out.  However, there are other events that can cause outages as well.

What affects power quality and reliability?
The overhead and underground lines that deliver electricity to you every day are exposed to weather, trees, animals, vehicles and people. Events that commonly impact power quality and reliability include: 

• Lightning strikes;
  
  
• Wind and heavy rain that cause objects to be blown onto the exposed lines;
  
   
• Trees or limbs falling onto the power lines; 
  
  
• Small animals that get onto the power lines or into ground mounted equipment;
  
  
• Cars that run off the road and hit power poles and ground mounted equipment;
  
  
• Construction companies that accidentally dig into the underground lines while building new homes or offices. 

What is Progress Energy doing to improve power quality and reliability?
Progress Energy invests millions of dollars each year to ensure that power is there when you need it.  New substations and power lines have been built as the community has grown.  Tree crews cut tree limbs away from power lines and remove dead trees that could fall on the lines.  Electric equipment is constantly serviced, maintained and replaced when necessary.  Progress Energy has also invested in the latest technologies to monitor the quality of power we provide, and when a problem does appear, our employees can respond quickly to restore service. 

What can customers do to improve power quality and reliability?
Progress Energy has employees out every day working on the power lines, but we can't be everywhere.  If you see a tree limb that is rubbing up against a power line or a vine that has grown up to the top of the pole, or if you notice your lights are blinking, call the Customer Service Center and report the problem.