As Omaha Public Power District and mutual aid crews push to restore power following Wednesday night’s historic storm, we are beginning to receive reports from customers of scammers trying to take advantage of the situation.
Callers are apparently claiming that customers need to pay for reconnection as part of outage restoration work. This is not the case. In the past, scammers have also tried to convince utility customers that they’re overdue on bills, need to pay for meters, or other equipment. They are often aggressive, telling customers if they don’t pay over the phone with a pre-paid debit or credit card or other banking information, they will disconnect service soon.
OPPD warns customers not to fall for these ploys. NEVER provide personal or financial information during an unsolicited phone call. ALWAYS hang up. Customers who have questions on their account or bill status, or if in need of financial assistance should call us at 402-536-4131 in the Omaha calling area or 877-536-4131 outside of the Omaha area.
Additionally, do not allow entrance to somebody claiming to be from the utility who appears at your door without providing identification. OPPD employees always carry identification. Failure to produce identification should always be a tip-off to the customer that something is wrong. Also, be wary of sales pitches from companies claiming to represent or work with OPPD.
Restoration update
As of this morning, OPPD has restored power to 76% of customers impacted by Wednesday’s hurricane-force winds. That still leaves more than 56,000 customers without power. Most are in Douglas and Sarpy Counties. However, we are also working to restore hundreds of outages remaining in Saunders, Cass, Washington, and Pottawattamie Counties.
Some of the current outages are either new or the result of after-effects of the storm, such as trees weakened by the storm falling down into power lines days later. We want to remind customers to be sure and report any new outages online, via our OPPDConnect app, or by calling 1-800-554-OPPD (6773) so that we're aware and can respond.
We are working to provide more specific estimated restoration times; however, the most complex repairs could take up to six more days. Please follow StormAndOutage.com for the latest updates and resources for customers still impacted by outages.