Call Before You Dig

Do you plan on doing some digging? Whether it’s putting up a fence or doing some landscaping, there could be underground power lines on your property.

These powerlines can be buried as little as one foot underground, with high voltage electricity from the New Brunswick power grid.

You could accidentally hit a line and suffer serious injury or damage to your property and power infrastructure.

NB Power provides a free underground locate service to keep you and your family safe.

There are two ways to get started. Please reach out at least five business days before you plan to begin work that involves digging.

	Fill out a Customer Service Inquiry form, selecting Underground Locate Request as your inquiry type. Provide a description of area you plan to dig and information about the work in the Comments field. If possible, upload a photo of the area as an attachment.
OR
	Call NB Power at 1 800 663-6272. Our Customer Care Advisors will submit a request for an underground locate.
	NB Power will visit your property to conduct the underground locate within 5 business days, assuming there are no emergencies or severe weather. Depending on the work you’re doing, we may ask you or your contractor to be on-site to better understand the requirements of your work.
	Here’s what to expect: An NB Power employee who specializes in underground locates will visit your property. We will walk through the property to examine the areas you wish to dig as well as how deep you plan on digging. We’ll perform the locate using equipment designed to detect underground power lines. If we identify underground power lines, we will paint red-orange dashes or dots on the lawn or dirt to mark the estimated location of the lines. The paint we use is non-toxic and safe for children and pets. Depending on the weather or time of year, flags may be used instead. We will create a map of the work area identifying underground lines, safety guidelines on how to proceed with your excavation and other areas of concern to be mindful of. The map will be provided to you as a paper copy if you are present at the time of the locate or sent to you by email that day if you are not on site. Your locate is valid for 21 days from the date the employee provides it to you. If excavation is necessary inside the “restricted zone” we will make you aware of specific rules you’ll need to follow, including additional support from NB Power as well as excavation methods that may be used. If we do not identify any underground power lines, we will email you a copy of the map, indicating “All Clear” to show that there are no NB Power electrical hazards present in that location.
	Before proceeding with your work, it is important to recognize that NB Power only checks for NB Power owned underground power lines. You are responsible for having your work site checked for all other cables, pipes and fuel lines that could be buried beneath the property before digging. This includes wires you may have run to a pool, garage or shed. Please contact your municipality, phone, cable or internet provider, and Info Excavation for more information.

If you’re ever in doubt when it comes to underground power lines, stop the job and call NB Power. We are here to help you stay safe.