Planned Power Outage

Scheduled Power Outages: April 17-April 21

• Every day between Monday, April 17- Friday, April 21, there will be an area on CTC grounds affected by a power outage from 8:00 am-3:00 pm.
• Each building will experience three days of power outages, per the schedule below.

Why is your power being turned off?

This is required maintenance work by the University of Minnesota for the University's electrical grid, which CTC uses. Planned power outages are sometimes necessary when we make improvements to the electric system. Most of the time, we can do this with no impact to you. Occasionally, we need to turn off your power for your safety and the safety of our crews. We know being without power is inconvenient and we appreciate your patience during these planned outages. We'll turn the power back on as soon as we can!

Schedule:

The schedule that shows which areas would be impacted each day of the week. The residential buildings are serviced by three, separate power loops: Loop A, Loop B and Loop C.

Your contact information

To help us inform you of upcoming planned maintenance, project updates or schedule changes, please check to make sure your RENTCafe account information is up to date with your current email and phone number.

Find our latest community announcements here, plus the option to join our mailing list or update your email address: CTC Community Email Archive.
Email is our primary method of communication with residents. We email your registered email address with relevant community announcements, as well as important maintenance notices specific to your unit or building. Thus, it is mandatory you receive and read these emails! Please contact the office if you need any assistance.

What should you do to prepare for a planned outage?

To help you prepare for a planned outage, here are a few suggested steps that you may choose to take to make the outage time less inconvenient and safe.

• Know and plan for your personal and medical electrical needs. Take an inventory of your electrical needs. Consider both back up and non-power alternatives for lighting, communication, medical devices and refrigerated medicine, cooking, etc.
• Stock non­-perishable food that does not require cooking or electricity to prepare/store.
• Make sure food stays cold by keeping your refrigerator and freezer doors closed. You can keep the refrigerator cold by placing ice in plastic containers and keeping them inside. Also, a full freezer will remain colder longer. 
• Only cold water will be available. Water heaters will not supply hot water during the outage.
• Plan for heating or cooling your home. Use methods such as keeping windows and doors closed if it is a cool day. If the weather is very hot or very cold, plan to go to a location with air conditioning or with heat. Never use a generator, outdoor or indoor stoves, or heaters indoors.
• Protect sensitive electronic equipment:
  • Charge mobile phones and other electric equipment prior to the outage.
  • Unplug computers, televisions, and sensitive electronics.
  • Log off your computer at least a half hour before the electrical outage to avoid losing any stored data.
  • Check to make sure all heat-producing appliances (stoves, toaster ovens, irons, and hair curlers) are turned off. This will minimize any fire hazard if the power is restored while you're away.
• Plan for Laundry. Laundry Machines and Laundry Rooms will be affected by the  power outage. Ensure to complete all loads prior to the outage.
• Avoid Using Electronics/Appliances before Outage: Ensure that the following appliances are not in operation prior to the outage: stove, oven, clothes dryer, dishwasher, space heaters, iron, washing machine and any other electrical appliance other than the freezer, refrigerator. Having the suggested appliances off before the outage will help prevent them from coming back on should you decide to leave the premises during the outage. It also helps to get the system back on quicker when the system does not experience a large amount of cold load pick up.
• Decide if you need to stay or go. 
  • On the day of the outage, plan to go visit a friend or relative, take the family out for the day, use creative ideas to make an adventure out of the outage for children.
  • Go to a community location with power for a warming/cooling center and power charging stations.
    • Community rooms will be open for the community to use during outages. Please check back for details. 

• Most of all be safe, be patient and know that we are taking every measure possible to restore your electric service as quickly and safely as possible whether the outage is scheduled or unscheduled.

Open Community Spaces Available

Commonwealth Terrace Co-op:

Local Area:

Questions?

Do you have questions about the outage or resources? Contact CTC Management - stop in the office, or email or call us! See in-person business hours and CTC's contact information.