By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE/Salem Statesman-Journal
In Oregon, power companies will still decide whether to shut off power if there’s a high risk of wildfires.
But new state rules will now require large utilities owned by investors to publicize certain details in advance about a shutoff, like when it will start and how long it’s expected to last, and to provide status updates every 24 hours.
Oregon’s Public Utility Commission issued new rules saying power companies have to inform “critical facilities” like communications facilities and local public safety “partners” like local emergency managers of the day, time and estimated length of a shutoff.
The utilities also have to inform customers about shutoffs through “multiple media platforms to maximize customer outreach” and have prominent links on their websites to information about the shutoff and the area where the shutoff is happening.
The utilities can contact customers through phone or email if it doesn’t disrupt emergency alerts and through those messages should convey when the shutoff will start, how long it will last and a way for customers to contact the company 24 hours a day.
The issue was amplified during the Labor Day wildfires of 2020 when about a million acres of Oregon were torched, including destroying 300 homes in the Otis community in north Lincoln County and in the Santiam Canyon east of Salem.
Some utilities, including Portland General Electric, Lane Electric and Consumers Power, chose to shut off power as winds kicked up, but others, like Pacific Power, did not.
A massive lawsuit has been filed against Pacificorp and Pacific Power, which is owned by Pacificorp, for $1.6 billion, alleging the companies left the power lines energized in the Otis area and the Santiam Canyon despite knowing a massive wind event was forecast for Labor Day weekend, in the context of a dry year, and that the wind could cause trees and other debris to hit power lines and start fires.
“This devastation could have been avoided if Defendants had turned off the power surging through their power lines,” the lawsuit states. “Instead, PacifiCorp and Pacific Power prioritized dollars over livelihoods and lives.”
Oregon’s Public Utility Commission, which regulates large power companies that are owned by investors, isn’t involved in decisions about whether to shut off power. And that is unlikely to change.
“The utilities know their system, they have the data on their system and they make the determination based on the data they have,” said Kandi Young, a spokesperson for the utility commission.
Asked what type of data that was, Young said several utilities have meteorologists on staff.
“They can better determine how that weather issue or incident is going to impact their system because they know their system the best,” Young said.
The commission calls power shutoffs a tool “of last resort” because shutting off power can have wide-ranging effects. Hospitals and nursing homes rely on power for medical equipment, and people on well water use electric pumps.
Temporary rules around shutoffs were approved for last year’s fire season but these new rules are permanent.
The commission doesn’t regulate co-ops owned by customers, so these new rules about how and when the utilities have to publicize shutoffs don’t apply to them.
The investor-owned utilities also have to submit plans to the commission for dealing with the risks of fire every year. The commission approved the 2022 plans last month.