An agreement between Puget Sound Energy and the Clallam County Public Utility District meant Jefferson County residents didn’t start 2009 in the dark.
An early morning, New Year’s Eve windstorm caused a large power outage in East Jefferson County that left about 15,000 people without power for approximately 75 minutes.
While it took a few days to complete repairs, the agreement that had Clallam PUD providing power to Jefferson County meant that few residents noticed the early-morning outage.
“It’s an ongoing partnership,” said Davina Gruenstein, spokeswoman for PSE, which provides electrical service to East Jefferson County.
“We have partnerships like that all around the region; it’s nothing new.”
The partnership meant that power was rerouted along the power grid when the Fairmont Irondale Transmission Line sustained heavy wind damage south of Discovery Bay and cut power to all five substations in East Jefferson County.
“We have a transmission line that is in that area,” said Dave Proebstel, chief engineer at Clallam PUD.
“When it happened, PSE took care of all the activity involved. We weren’t involved in anything except for providing the power.”
Proebstel said that the energy came from the Bonneville Power Administration, and any charges for extra energy in the switch would automatically be charged to PSE.
Repairs finished Friday
As of Friday afternoon, Puget Sound Energy had completed repairs to damaged Jefferson County electric lines.
Emergency crews, a helicopter and all-terrain vehicles were deployed to locate the damage.
“We have no estimates on the cost of repairs yet,” Gruenstein said.
“We have over 350 extra labor hours and the cost of all the additional equipment. The cost is substantial.”
Gruenstein said the quick recovery from the outage and the quick response were part of PSE’s ability to mobilize quickly and its continued investment in the infrastructure in Jefferson County.
Jefferson PUD
In November, voters gave the Jefferson County Public Utility District the authority to take over the electrical power system in the area.
One reason was a concern that PSE would be sold to foreign investors.
The state Utilities and Transportation Commission State approved last week the proposed sale of PSE for $7.4 billion to a group of investors mainly from Canada.
The PUD now provides water and sewer service only.
The PUD commissioners are studying the matter with the help of citizen advisers, such as those with Citizens for Local Power, which successfully promoted Proposition 1 on the November ballot.
The commissioners next take up the matter at their first meeting of 2009 at 5 p.m. Wednesday in their conference room at PUD headquarters, 230 Chimacum Road, Port Hadlock.
If the district decides to provide electrical power, the process of acquiring infrastructure from PSE, which has served Port Townsend and East Jefferson for more than a century, could take three years.
Jim Parker, manager of the Jefferson PUD, said it was too early to speculate on how the district — if it does take over electrical service — would respond to such an emergency, but he was fairly sure that if the power went out while under its authority, it too would have an agreement with Clallam to keep the lights on.
“I know all the PUDs in Washington have an agreement to work together,” Parker said.
“There is a water agreement between all the PUDs in the area that keeps the water flowing if something were to happen.
“I would assume all the PUDs work together” with energy as well.
Parker pointed out that Clallam would be just one of a few options in such an emergency.
Mason County’s PUD currently provides energy to Brinnon residents not served by PSE.
“There are a lot of options,” Parker said.
“These will all be addressed as we move forward.”
The commissioners, which include newly elected commissioner Ken McMillan, will discuss it on Wednesday.
“The first question to answer will be how to move forward with this authority,” Parker said.
“We’re not going to go rushing into this.”
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
