What You Need To Know About Planned Outages
Lane Electric Cooperative and our power partners at Bonneville Power Administration conduct ongoing system maintenance to ensure safe, reliable power delivery. Occasionally, that requires planned outages. Those could be just a few minutes or overnight.
To lessen the impact on members, BPA often plans substation and transmission line maintenance work that requires extended outages for overnight in the summer and fall.
Whether it’s performed by BPA, Lane Electric or another contractor, here are a few things to know about planned outages:
- Notice: The lead time for planned outages varies. For example, a car may hit a pole. Crews can temporarily restore power, but a more significant fix is required for a long-term solution. That work may be scheduled in a day or two. Planned general maintenance work may be scheduled a month or more in advance.
- Message delivery: How much notice we have determines how we inform members. If we have a few weeks, we’ll send a postcard to impacted members. We employ email, social media, and phone messaging as we get closer to the planned outage.
- Time frame: We do our best to provide an estimated impact time frame. Occasionally, additional complications arise when work is underway that could extend an outage. Conversely, outages may take less time than expected.
How to Prepare
Ensure your contact information is current and we have multiple ways to reach you. You can make changes by calling the cooperative office during business hours at (541) 484-1151, through SmartHub, or on the website, Change of Address page. Stay vigilant and always be prepared for outages. Visit the Outage page for outage tips and preparedness resources.
