Electric co-op faces winter’s challenges

After weeks of severe cold weather in early December and with three more months of winter left, Sisters area residents know they are vulnerable to power outages and “brownouts” that other parts of the country have experienced.

Jim Crowell, member services director of Central Electric Cooperative, says there is good news and the potential for bad news in the months ahead for their customers in the area.

“Bonneville Power Administration, our chief supplier of power, tells us there is no threat of a power shortage this winter,” Crowell said. “Reservoirs are full plus there is added power being generated by wind and gas-powered facilities. That’s part of the good news. In addition, earlier this year we were able to increase our voltage in the Sisters area by 2.5 percent by doing some switching in the local substation.”

The electrical system was able to “dodge the bullet” when the cold weather struck in November, Crowell added.

“We are hoping that was it for this winter, but you can never be certain,” he said.

In 1996, a major ice storm hit Central Oregon leaving some customers without power for up to two days.

According to Crowell, the major potential problem in the Sisters area can be found with transmission poles and lines along Highway 126 between Sisters and Redmond.

“All you have to do is to look at what happened to our system last week when a pickup truck struck a power pole in Redmond,” Crowell said. “We lost power to a major part of Redmond and all the way east through Post and Paulina clear to Izee, including our own Redmond headquarters facilities.”

Some 3,500 customers were without power for 12 hours, he added.

That type of problem can happen to the Sisters area because power poles are vulnerable to traffic accidents along Highway 126, Crowell said.

“Here we have major transmission lines, distribution lines, plus telephone and cable television lines on poles just 15 feet from the edge of the black top. Annually, we have about 23 ‘third-party’ damages to our system. While a few of these outages are caused by contractors cutting an underground line or a vehicle striking a ground-based transformer, most are caused by vehicles hitting a power pole.

“When our system was being developed, we might have had 10 miles of gravel road that led to two farms and with very light traffic on that road,” Crowell said. “Now, that same road may be access for two or three subdivisions and with lots more traffic on the same narrow right-of-way. One vehicle accident and the system goes down. An increase in traffic can be seen on all Central Oregon highways.”

There are ways to solve this potential problem, but each solution is expensive, he said.

“Placing powerlines underground is one option, but very expensive,” he said. “Cost of this work is about seven times what above ground lines cost to install.”

Repair work on underground lines also is more expensive and the lines do deteriorate after many years. This was the case recently in the Suttle Lake Lodge area where old underground lines gave out, he said.

Central Electric also has used some tall metal poles that can be seen at the western edge of Redmond.

“These poles will withstand a direct hit by a vehicle and not break, but again these are very expensive to install,” Crowell said.

Having another option to keep power supplied to the growing Sisters area has been the focal point of a long legal battle that the cooperative has had with private landowners east of Sisters. At issue is the height of towers for lines that would cross private property, impacting the view from the property. The battle is part of Oregon’s Measure 37 struggle that will be reviewed by the Oregon Supreme Court later this month.

Central Electric Cooperative was formed in 1940 and now serves 27,151 accounts in seven Central and Eastern Oregon counties. The not-for-profit, consumer-owned cooperative maintains 3,696 miles of above- and below- ground lines.