Camp Sherman residents learn to deal with outages at end of line

Camp Sherman residents, along with much of Sisters Country were severely impacted by last December's extended power outage.

Central Electric Cooperative representatives spoke with folks in Camp Sherman Tuesday, March 23, at the request of the Camp Sherman Community Association. Residents asked CEC to discuss the outage and any planned upgrades for the Camp Sherman area.

The outage affected 400 customers in Camp Sherman and about 3,000 customers overall, according to CEC.

Doug Ertner, senior account executive and Don Lang, senior electrical engineer, brought area maps and charts outlining Camp Sherman's electrical infrastructure.

"It was an excellent meeting," said full-time resident Ron Gregg. "They really demonstrated their desire to open channels of communication for the community and make sure the information is available to them."

Residents were looking for solutions, and focused their questions on community

preparedness.

"This was an outage of unusual severity," said Kathy Reynolds, secretary and board member for the community association. "The impact made it more tough on people than usual because our power was out more than 35 hours."

"People in Camp Sherman are at the end of the line," Ertner said, "It takes longer to get power back on."

Several residents expressed concerns about "cold-load pickup."

"Cold-load pickup was one of the reasons for delays in getting Camp Sherman residents' power up and running," Ertner said. "When we have an outage and it's cold outside, hot water and the house gets colder. When the power comes on there's a tremendous load, so we couldn't bring everyone on at once."

To help address this problem across a broad coverage area, CEC has been upgrading transmission lines and substations from 69,000 volts to 115,000 volts at the Kline Falls, Eagle Crest, and Tollgate substations. Work has just been completed at the Tollgate, Black Butte Ranch and Sisters substations in preparation for the voltage conversion.

CEC has identified some problem areas in Camp Sherman and plans repairs pending a permit request already submitted to the Forest Service.

"There are 2.3 miles of underground cable that are planned for replacement on Suttle Lake Road," Lang stated. "The cable will take several months to replace."

Residents also expressed an interest in the "Peak Project" being conducted for the next 18 months in Tollgate. The Peak Project is one way of saving power. It attaches a timer to hot water heaters to power them off during periods of peak power consumption.

"I thought one of the most interesting pieces of information that came out of the meeting was CEC's discussion of the power drain in the mornings," said Roger White, owner of the Camp Sherman Store.

Reynolds noted that with key power usage coming from furnaces and hot water heaters, it's important to do what we can to reduce cold-load pickup to help reduce the time it takes to bring the power back up.

If the results of the Peak Project in Tollgate are positive, Lang stated the Camp Sherman people would be eligible for the program. The program will be finalized by the end of December 2011."

It is not necessary for consumers to wait for the Tollgate program to be complete. Lang said anyone could buy a device and have it installed by an electrician.

CEC is also working toward installing smart meters utilizing a $4 million matching-funds grant. While the smart meters allow utility companies to read meters automatically, it has the potential for attachment to hot water heaters and furnaces to help reduce peak loads. There is currently no date set for when this project will be implemented.

Residents asked who should be calling in to report power outages, stating they don't have good phone service in Camp Sherman or good cell phone coverage.

"It's important for everyone to call in the event of an outage," Ertner said. "Don't assume that someone else has called."

Lang suggested that people have a landline phone that does not require electrical power to use during

emergencies.

Everyone felt Camp Sherman needed an emergency plan for outages.

Jim Adkins, acting sheriff for Jefferson County, agreed to be a contact point for CEC in the event of an outage. Adkins plans on compiling a list of all residents.

"When CEC notifies me of an outage, we can decide if and where to set up a command post." Adkins said. "People can notify us via 911, and we will send resources as needed."

The Camp Sherman Store has always been a contact point during emergencies. They also have a pay phone that works during power

outages.

"There was a lot of discussion about what steps absent homeowners should take," White said. "Most cabins have the heater inside and the pipes are inside. The majority of cabin owners live locally. Those who live further away have the plumber come in. Several people just turn off the heat and blow the pipes out in the winter."

Bruce Shaull, president of the board of the Camp Sherman Community Association identified the Community Hall as a resource to use for emergencies.

"One of the reasons we put a new generator in the hall was to help the community during outages. Several residents stayed at the hall during the last outage," Shaull said.