ELECTRIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

ELECTRIC RELIABILITY, DELIVERED

The Oncor electric network delivers electricity from power plants to users through transmission and distribution power lines. Our electric transmission system connects power plants to substations through high-voltage transmission lines. The electric distribution network also delivers electricity from substations to homes and businesses through lower-voltage lines that include overhead wires and underground cables.

RESPONDING TO OUTAGES

If an outage occurs, we restore power as quickly and safely as possible. Our interactive storm center map keeps you informed about outages in your neighborhood with estimated power restoration times. The map includes the cause of the outage, if known, and the number of customers affected in your area.

VIEW INTERACTIVE MAP

State-of-the-art digital technology allows Oncor to pinpoint outages so power can be restored as quickly as possible.

An Oncor restoration team meets at the scene of an outage following a storm to restore power safely and quickly.

OUR POWER RESTORATION PROCESS

When a sustained outage event occurs, our top priority is to restore power safely and quickly. Oncor immediately mobilizes all available crews and equipment and will ask for assistance from other utilities in our Mutual Assistance Program, if necessary.

Oncor follows a systematic process to evaluate and restore power. Our restoration philosophy – to safely and quickly restore power to the greatest number of customers – along with improved technology helps us determine where to go and what to repair first.

Here's how the restoration prioritization process typically works:

Transmission line power outages affect thousands of customers since these high-voltage lines deliver electricity to entire neighborhoods and businesses. Because the loss of a transmission line affects so many, this type of restoration often has the highest priority.
Public and critical care facilities, such as hospitals and fire stations, are also top priority since these facilities impact lives and first responders.
Our next priority would be outages on the distribution system that deliver power to homes and businesses affecting several hundred consumers.
Power outages at single residences or businesses would follow all of the above in priority.

TREES AND POWER OUTAGES

Trees are a major cause of power outages. In fact, a single tree can affect power for an entire neighborhood. Please help keep trees away from power lines and plan ahead before landscaping. For safety reasons, we ask that customers not work within 10 feet of tree limbs near high-voltage power lines.

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One tree can cause a power outage in an entire neighborhood. Keep trees away from power lines by planning before planting.

VEGETATION MANAGEMENT

Tree limbs tangled in power lines are one of the top causes of power outages. Property owners should never plant trees below power lines, or close enough that limbs may grow into the lines as the tree matures. Oncor's team of vegetation management experts—including certified arborists and line-qualified tree service providers—may prune or remove trees that interfere with the reliability and integrity of electrical service within our service area. Property owners should never prune trees within 10 feet of a power line. If you have a tree that needs pruning near a power line, always get professional help. Tree branches touching power lines conduct electricity. Every year in Texas, people are injured or killed when they prune trees near power lines.

JOINT USE MANAGEMENT

As an agent for the electric rate payers in Texas, Oncor must protect its assets while balancing the risks of allowing communications equipment on power poles. The goal of the Joint Use Management Group is to provide consistency so that all parties share accountability for actions that could negatively impact the safety and reliability our electric distribution system, are treated fairly and equitably, and remit appropriate costs for make-ready.