Oncor held an After Hours event on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 from 5-7 PM at the Ward County Convention Center.  They provided booths educating the public on all things involving electricity.  Oncor also gave koozies and water bottles as door prizes.

One booth provided a guide from the Public Utility Commission of Texas giving information on over 150 electricity providers.  You can visit www.powertochoose.org to check out the rates for your area and special offers from each provider.

Another booth gave information on the smart meter and how to read the new meter.  Oncor projects finishing installation of the new smart meters by the end of the year.  Also available is an in-home energy monitor.  This monitor displays the energy consumption in a home or small business.  The meter is plugged into a wall outlet and will let you know how much energy you are using and how much it is costing you.

If a street light is out, you can report it online at www.oncorstreetlight.com.  This website allows you to report the exact location of the streetlight and exactly what the problem is with the light, without having to call Oncor directly. Oncor representatives gave out brochures about planting trees, so they do not interfere with the power lines.  Tree limbs are the primary reason for outages.  If you have tree limbs that are growing into the power lines, Oncor will come out and trim the limbs free of charge.  In fact it is illegal to come within 10 feet of Oncor's facilities (power lines).  You can visit www.oncor.com for more information about limb trimming.

Oncor also had a booth for children teaching them how to be safe around electricity.  Another booth provided a light bulb magnet with your ESI ID number and the outage phone number on it 1-888-313-4747.  The service request phone number is 1-888-313-6862.