AUTOMATIC POWER RESTORING DEVICES

Gulf Power is installing Automated Lateral Switches on their power poles. The devices are intended to automatically restore power after a temporary disruption. Company spokesman Gordon Paulus said if the device senses an interference, like a tree limb, it will test the line up to three times. If it determines the tree limb is no longer on the line, it will automatically restore power. But if the device still detects the problem after the third test, it will blow the fuse and a crew will be sent to check on the outage.  He said by the end of 2020 about 3,500 devices will be installed.