With longer days 和 warmer weather, homeowners are spending more time planting 和 working on other outdoor projects. 坦帕电 would like to remind Floridians it is important to call 811 at least two business days before they start digging.
在4月, 阳光811, 坦帕电 和 other utilities are promoting National Safe Digging Month. The campaign is designed to remind Florida’s residents of the network of wires, cables 和 pipelines located underground, 和 often closer to the surface than you might think. Striking one of these underground utility lines while digging could result in loss of electric, 天然气, water or communications 和 cable services, injure you or others, 和 potentially result in fines 和 repair costs.
A national survey recently showed that over half of U.S. homeowners plan to complete an outdoor do-it-yourself project that involves digging in the next year – but only 60 percent of them plan to call 811 before they begin their projects. When homeowners forget to call 811 before digging, they run the risk of damaging their own service lines. When excavators don’t follow safe digging practices, the impact is much greater – hundreds of residents 和 businesses can lose utility service from just one hit line.
坦帕电 has a team of locators who visit job sites 和 mark underground power lines around homes 和 businesses – but only if there’s a call to 811 to alert them. In 2023, they responded to about 121,000个请求, for a total of more than 1 million requests since the team’s inception in 2016. Also in that time, damage to TECO’s underground equipment has dropped by more than 90 percent.
一个免费的, simple phone call to 811 makes it easy for 阳光811 to notify all appropriate utility companies of your intent to dig. Here are some tips to remember:
- Call at least two full business days before digging, to give utility companies enough time to properly mark their lines. When you call 811, you will be asked for the location 和 description of your digging project.
- Doing a small project at a single address? 阳光811 has an easy online entry system. 访问 sunshine811.com 和 click on Single Address Ticket.
- 阳光811 notifies affected utility companies, who then send a professional locator to mark the approximate location of underground equipment for free.
- Check the 阳光811 Positive Response link at sunshine811.com 和, once all utilities have responded, roll up those sleeves 和 dig carefully within 24 inches of any marks in your project area.
- Even if you are not digging, remember to leave any markers – paint or flags – in place. They are a sign of work that may be coming soon to your area by a utility or contractor.
访问 sunshine811.com or TampaElectric.com for more information about safe digging.
坦帕电, one of Florida’s largest investor-owned electric utilities, 约840人,000 customers in West Central Florida. 坦帕电 is a subsidiary of Emera Inc., a geographically diverse energy 和 services company headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
