LCEC – Lee County Electric Cooperative

You can click on the “Order surgeSENSE” link on the left side of this page and complete the online request so a Customer Care Professional can contact you. You may also call 239-656-2300 and choose Option 7, then Option 2, then Option 2 for surgeSENSE. surgeSENSE can only be purchased through LCEC and installed by an LCEC technician.

Payment is required within 30 days of installation and can be made by cash or check. Cash payments are accepted at our Immokalee Payment Center. Check payments are accepted online at www.lcec.net, at our Immokalee Payment Center, or by mail using the enclosed envelope.

Today’s electronic equipment contains sensitive microprocessors. Almost any power disturbance can cause interruption or damage. Low-level surges can cause stress on the circuits, leading to early failure. High-level surges can result in immediate destruction of expensive circuitry. Customers are faced with many choices for surge protection and are provided with a false sense of security when they purchase a low-cost plug-in suppressor, thinking that it will provide them with adequate protection.

Stage 1 surge protection (meter base surge protector) redirects or reduces high-voltage surges at the point they enter your home, the meter base. Stage 2 (plug-in surge protectors) goes a step further by protecting sensitive electronics at the point of use.

Utility-grade products provide the highest quality in surge protection. LCEC’s surgeSENSE program offers you a way to help protect yourself against the constant danger of power surges. surgeSENSE components are specially manufactured to meet LCEC’s high engineering standards and are backed by the manufacturer’s product warranties.

No, but they can wear away at sensitive electronics and other equipment within your home. An electronic device that is designed to last for 15 years may last only 8 years or less if it is constantly hit with small surges.

No. There is nothing that can protect against a direct lightning strike. However, about 95 percent of lightning-related damage to customer equipment is from “indirect” lightning strikes, such as something occurring down the street. Quality surge-protection equipment is designed to protect against transient surges often generated from indirect strikes.

We do! Lightning arresters are installed throughout the distribution system. They reduce the risk but cannot completely eliminate the risk of damage.

Utility-grade surge suppressors are built to perform under high surge conditions, they use large surge elements in multiple stages, and they handle up to six times as much surge energy as locally available products.

The meter-base surge protector is designed to capture and send approximately 85% of a transient surge or “spike” to ground (earth) before it enters your home. It will help protect the electromechanical components of motor-driven appliances, such as washers, dryers, refrigerators, and dishwashers, during transient surge events.Meter-base surge protectors cannot guarantee protection from a transient surge that occurs when lightning physically strikes a home (direct strike) or in situations where lightning physically strikes an object or structure very close to the home (power transformer, tree, satellite dish, antenna, pump house, well), which we consider a near-direct strike. The extreme intensity of these surge events creates a large electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that induces surge energy directly onto home wiring, cables, telephone lines, appliances, and sensitive electronics.

Meter-base surge protectors are also not designed to protect against damage caused by short-cycling of electrical equipment (motors, compressors, etc.), sustained over-voltage, or sustained under-voltage conditions. Air conditioning equipment and compressors receive protection from these surge events but are not covered under the manufacturer’s connected-equipment warranty due to their ability to “break” for a number of reasons (including short-cycling) not attributable to a transient surge event.

Sensitive electronics located within equipment can be protected ONLY by Stage 2 surge suppressors (power strips, battery backups, hard-wired suppressors, etc.), which are specifically designed for that purpose. Some equipment, such as appliances like stoves, refrigerators, washers, and clothes dryers that contain electronics, unfortunately cannot be protected by secondary devices because of their amperage requirements and plug design.