Why do my lights ‘blink’ from time to time?

Momen­tary out­ages occur when a dis­tur­bance on the line is detect­ed. These dis­tur­bances could be caused by a light­ning strike, a squir­rel or tree branch con­tact­ing the line, or a downed line or out­age in a near­by area, etc. If a fault or short cir­cuit occurs on a pow­er line, a device called a reclos­er opens to stop it and then quick­ly clos­es. This device allows pow­er to con­tin­ue flow­ing through the line with only a brief inter­rup­tion of ser­vice rather than caus­ing an extend­ed pow­er out­age. Although the process is quick and usu­al­ly tem­po­rary, it may cause your lights to blink. If the short cir­cuit con­tin­ues, the reclos­er will oper­ate or ‘trip’ three times before even­tu­al­ly stop­ping the flow of elec­tric­i­ty and caus­ing a pow­er out­age. This process pro­tects the lines from dam­age by cut­ting off pow­er to the affect­ed sec­tion of the line and iso­lat­ing the prob­lem until it can be repaired.