Big Country Electric Cooperative is in the process of updating our medical priority accounts. If you or anyone living in your household uses life-sustaining medical equipment that requires electricity, please contact any of our offices to let us know so that we can classify your household as a medical priority account. In the event of an extended widespread power outage, power restoration at medical priority service addresses will be our first priority.
Please provide details as to what the medical condition is and what type of life-sustaining equipment is in use, along with the amount of backup power you have available. You will also need to provide a medical certification from a physician stating that the equipment in use is life-sustaining.
We will soon contact members currently on the medical priority list to determine whether those accounts still have a medical necessity. Medical priority status is not a guarantee that you will be provided with immediate power after an outage, as no one can make that guarantee. You should always be prepared to move to an alternate location in the event of an extended power outage.
- Make sure that Big Country EC has up-to-date contact information for you and sign up to receive outage notifications and updates.
- Report all outages quickly.
- Plug electronic devices into surge suppressors and consider using uninterruptible power supplies on important devices.
- A universal power supply can act as a temporary battery backup to some devices.
- Consider investing in a portable generator that can power vital equipment in the event of an extended outage.
- Let us know if you do use a backup generator so that we can flag your location to keep crews safe while working on lines in your area.
- Keep an adequate supply of prescription drugs and medical equipment on hand.
