The house goes dark, the AC winds down, and the first instinct is to call the company whose name is on your electric bill. In most of North Texas, that is the wrong call. Summer storm season is a good time to get this straight, because when a July thunderstorm knocks out a feeder line at 9 p.m., knowing exactly who to contact, and having the shortcuts already set up on your phone, is the difference between guessing in the dark and watching a restoration estimate update in real time.
Here is how outage reporting actually works in the Oncor service area, every way to report one, and how to track the repair once it is in the system.
Why you call Oncor, not your electric company
Texas splits the electric business in two. The retail provider, the TXU or Reliant or Gexa whose logo is on your bill, sells you the electricity. But the poles, wires, meters and repair crews across most of Dallas-Fort Worth belong to Oncor, the regulated transmission and delivery utility. When the power goes out, the retail company cannot fix it; Oncor can. That is why every retail provider in the region ultimately points outage calls to the same place, Oncor’s outage and weather center.
A quick check before you report: if only part of your house is dark, look at your breaker panel first. A tripped breaker is not an outage, and flipping it fully off and back on takes ten seconds. If the neighbors are dark too, or the whole panel is fine and you still have nothing, it is Oncor’s problem to solve.
Four ways to report an outage
1. Call 888-313-4747. Oncor’s outage line runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The automated system can take a report by phone number or account lookup even during a major storm when hold times for a live person stretch.
2. Text OUT to 66267. The fastest option once you are set up. Oncor’s MyOncor Alerts program lets you register by texting REG to 66267 (it spells ONCOR). After that, a two-word text reports the outage, and Oncor texts back a confirmation with the estimated time of restoration when one is available. Set this up on a sunny day; storm night is a bad time to be reading registration instructions by phone flashlight.
3. Report online. Oncor’s online outage reporting tool works from any phone or computer and identifies your location by address or account.
4. Use the MyOncor app. The utility’s free app for iPhone and Android bundles reporting, status checks and alerts in one place.
However you report, do report, even if the whole block is out. Outage management systems map the extent of a problem partly from where reports come in, and a report from the far end of the street can tell the dispatcher the damage is bigger than the first calls suggested.
Tracking the repair
Once your outage is in the system, Oncor’s outage map is your window into the work. The map shows active outages across the service territory, roughly how many customers each one affects, and estimated restoration times as crews assess damage. During big weather events the estimates move around, usually because crews discover more damage once they arrive, so treat the first estimate as a draft, not a promise.
If you registered for MyOncor Alerts, updates come to you by text, phone or email, including confirmation when Oncor believes your power is back. That last alert matters: if your neighbors light up and your house stays dark, tell Oncor, because your individual service line may have separate damage the crew cannot see from the main repair.
Downed lines are a different phone call
A power line on the ground, tangled in a fence, or draped across a car is not a routine outage report. Treat every downed line as energized. Keep people and pets far away, do not touch anything the line touches, and call 911 if there is any immediate danger, then report the line to Oncor at the same 888-313-4747 number. After wind storms, be especially wary of lines hidden in downed tree limbs, and never try to clear debris off a line yourself.
Before the next storm
Two minutes of prep now pays off in August. Save 888-313-4747 in your contacts under “Oncor outage.” Text REG to 66267 and finish the alert registration. Bookmark the outage map. And if someone in your home depends on powered medical equipment, talk to your retail electric provider about registering as a critical care customer, a designation that flows to Oncor and flags your address, though it does not guarantee faster restoration, so a backup plan still matters.
None of this makes the lights come back sooner on its own. But it puts your outage on the map in minutes, keeps the guesswork out of a dark evening, and frees you to deal with the part of the storm that is actually yours to handle.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. Figures are linked to their primary sources; where a claim could not be verified from the public record, we say so.
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