The power has gone out eight times tonight.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

12. There's a pole in front of the house that had issues over the summer and last week.

The issue over the summer was a burned out lightning arrester on one of the phase conductors. The issue last week was a branch that drifted into a phase conductor.

I am familiar with how an automatic recloser normally operates. An automatic recloser will usually make two attempts at reenergizing the line, to make sure that the squirrel is good and fried, and then give up, figuring that the problem is big enough to warrant a service call.

Last week, the recloser tried to reenergize the line twice. It was to no avail, as the vegetation was still up against the line. It was a tree branch. The lineman came out with a power saw on the end of a pole. Working from ana elevated bucket, he cut off a bunch of branches.

The line clearance did the trick.