Media Contact: Steve Schultz (608) 458-3285
Alliant Energy encourages you to make the free call three days before you dig to know what’s below
MADISON, WI – August 10, 2010 – Wisconsin Power and Light Company (WPL), an Alliant Energy company, reminds customers that with August 11 almost here, Alliant Energy hopes this date on the calendar, 8/11, will serve as a natural reminder for residents to call 811 prior to any digging project to have underground utility lines marked. This comes on the heels of a recent report by Common Ground Alliance, which determined an underground utility line is damaged during digging projects once every three minutes nationwide.
811 callers are connected to Diggers Hotline, the local one-call operator, which will notify all the appropriate utility companies of the digging project. Homeowners and contractors should always call three days before starting a project. Professional locators are sent to the requested digging site to mark the approximate locations of underground lines with flags, spray paint or both.
Striking a single line can cause injury, repair costs, fines and inconvenient outages. Every digging project, no matter how large or small, warrants a call to 811. Installing a mailbox, building a deck, planting a tree and laying a patio are all examples of digging projects that need a call to 811 before starting.
“On Aug. 11 and throughout the year, we remind homeowners and professional contractors alike to call 811 before digging to eliminate the risk of striking an underground utility line,” said Richard Sublett, Sr. Manager Compliance & Operations Performance for Alliant Energy. “Failure to call before digging results in more than 60,000 unintentional hits annually, and we do not want anyone’s project to become part of the statistic.”
The depth of utility lines can vary for a number of reasons, such as erosion, previous digging projects and uneven surfaces. Utility lines need to be properly marked because even when digging only a few inches, the risk of striking an underground utility line still exists.
Visit call811.com or diggershotline.com for more information about 811 and safe digging practices. If you have questions or concerns, or to report an outage, please call 1-800-ALLIANT (1-800-255-4268) or visit alliantenergy.com .
Alliant Energy is an energy-services provider with subsidiaries serving approximately 1 million electric and over 412,000 natural gas customers. Providing its customers in the Midwest with regulated electric and natural gas service is the company’s primary focus. Wisconsin Power and Light, the company’s Wisconsin utility subsidiary, serves approximately 454,000 electric and 178,000 natural gas customers. Alliant Energy, headquartered in Madison, Wis., is a Fortune 1000 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LNT. For more information, visit the company’s Web site at http://www.alliantenergy.com.
