Did you experience a power outage in October? Chances are the neighborhood squirrels may have caused the inconvenience. With 15 power outages in October, OMU reported Thursday that 9 of them were caused by squirrels, birds, and other animals interfering with lines or damaging equipment.
That accounts for 60% of October’s power outages at OMU. According to T&D World, a national utility publication, animal-related outages caused between $15million-$18 million in damages and lost revenue per year.
OMU Communication and Public Relations Manager Sonya Dixon said that the curious squirrel often will cause damage just as a way to file its teeth down. This leads to plastics, metals, and other things being chewed on.
“We and the industry have tried everything to fix the problem. Everybody comes out with a new cage to put around the equipment, but those squirrels are culprits,” Dixon said.
Dixon said that they still are finding ways to address the outages, but damages vary and have been found on all equipment including electric and telecommunications.
OMU General Manager Tim Lyons said that as the winter season approaches, outages caused by animal interference may continue.
“It’s that time of year and so we apologize for the inconvenience, but sometimes we just can’t protect from those types of interference,” he said. “It’s been somewhat of a challenging year this past year as always.”
