Let’s admit it. October’s a cool time of year around here.

For some, it’s the chance to go leaf-peeping among those gorgeous golden aspens.

For others, it’s the opportunity to gain large quantities of candy – with or without putting together a costume first.

And for Longmont, it’s the end of the summer electric rate, that June-to-September time period where electric demand is at its highest. With the temperatures dropping and air conditioners mostly turning off, things can shift back into “normal” mode for a while.

Yay!

Now – and you knew there’d be a “now,” right? – it’s time to think about the other things that October usually brings to Longmont.

Namely, the beginning of ice and snow season.

Cold weather brings its own set of challenges for electric utilities and customers, and a little planning can go a long way. Some simple things to remember:

• If you have tree branches near the power lines, get them cut back by a licensed tree professional so that snow and ice don’t bring down a limb and take out your electricity with it.
• If you see a line that HAS been knocked down or has a tree or branch on it, stay a safe distance away and call us at 303-651-8386 to take care of it. (You guys are always awesome at reporting this.)
• Go over our list of tips on preparing for a winter outage and what to do if a cold-weather outage hits. Even with our nationally-recognized reliability, it pays to be ready for the unexpected.
• Just like you cut back vegetation around the utility meters in the summer, make sure to shovel snow off of them in the winter, too, to help anyone who needs to read, maintain or repair it.

I know, it sounds a little wild to think about all this while the autumn leaves are still being raked up. But remembering now can help a lot later.

And that’s a pretty cool deal.