PGE warns of possible public safety power shutoffs

Portland General Electric announced Wednesday that it is monitoring dangerous, high-risk fire conditions and is increasingly likely to call public safety power shutoffs (PSPSs) in 10 areas that are at a higher fire risk, affecting approximately 30,000 customer meters.

A PSPS is when PGE turns off power in a limited, high-risk area to help reduce the risk of wildfire and to help protect people, property and the environment.

Sheridan City Manager Heidi Bell informed residents of the three West Valley communities of the situation Wednesday night.

"Much of Sheridan is in a PSPS and all of Willamina and Grande Ronde are in one," she said. "We will continue to post updates as the situation evolves on the city's website, Facebook page and community board outside of City Hall. Be safe and please remember to be helpful to others in need." 

PGE is actively monitoring conditions and will make the decision based on factors including wind speed, temperature, humidity and the dryness of trees and brush, field observations and information from local fire departments and agencies.

The agency will continue to monitor conditions for the next 24-48 hours and will provide an update. If conditions persist, PGE aims to provide up to four hours of notice before turning off power.

Weather forecasts indicate strong, gusty winds are predicted across PGE’s service area, starting as early as Friday morning.

 “PGE works year-round to help keep our system safe and resilient from wildfire, including managing over 2.2 million trees along 12,000 miles of power lines,” said Larry Bekkedahl, senior vice president of Advanced Energy Delivery for PGE. “However, we are expecting extreme winds that could cause outages. We are preparing to have crews at the ready to begin repairing damage following the high winds, as soon as conditions are safe.”

The 10 PSPS areas are shown in the map below. Customers in these areas should check portlandgeneral.com/psps to confirm if their power may be impacted.

PGE encourages everyone who may be impacted by a PSPS or a weather-related outage to make an emergency plan and prepare an outage kit using the preparedness information that PGE sent to customers and that is also available on PGE’s website. 

If PGE calls a PSPS in these areas, PGE will shut off power as long as necessary  to protect against the risk of fire. A PSPS can last for multiple days.

After weather conditions return to normal, PGE will begin to visually inspect its equipment and make any repairs necessary to safely re-energize lines.

Based on current information, PGE estimates a PSPS could be called on Friday morning, and power could be out through Saturday night. Assuming this event duration and no damage to our system, power restoration would begin Sunday morning and power to customers could be restored by Monday night.

If PGE calls a PSPS in these areas, community resource centers will likely be opened to provide information, water, ice, Wi-Fi and access to charging for personal electronics. More information will be provided in future updates.

PGE is communicating directly with customers in the impacted areas and will also communicate through the news media, on portlandgeneral.com/psps and on social media, @PortlandGeneral on Twitter and @PortlandGeneralElectric on Facebook, among other channels. 

Customer service is available at 503-228-6322 and service advisors can assist customers in more than 200 languages.