4,300 in southern Bend to lose power early Friday
About 4,300 Pacific Power customers in south Bend will have their electricity interrupted for up to three hours early Friday morning so crews may finalize work after upgrading substation equipment, officials said Tuesday.
The outage is scheduled to begin at 3 a.m. and power will be restored by 6 a.m. although officials said it will be returned at the first opportunity.
The area affected begins near the railroad crossing of Highway 97, west along Brookswood Boulevard to the Deschutes River and south to include Deschutes River Woods. The eastern boundary of the outage is the Woodside Ranch area.
Customers in the affected area have been notified individually about the outage.
With cold temperatures, customers may want to take extra precautions such as maintaining heat a little higher than normal that night so the cool down will not be as noticeable, the utility said.Extra blankets may also be in order.
However, they added that safety should be the primary concern. Do not use propane heaters indoors or any other heat sources that increase chances of starting a fire or creating harmful fumes.
The work completes a series of upgrades at the China Hat substation. This outage allows crews to safely transfer service back to the upgraded substation. Since September, the area had been served by a mobile substation.
“We want to thank our customers ahead of time for their patience,” said Angela Price, regional business manager. “Upgrading the substation equipment will improve reliability and should make for fewer and shorter outages in the future.”
If customers have questions about the planned outage, they can call Pacific Power at 1-888-221-7070 . Any outages during that time in other parts of the community should continue to be reported to Pacific Power at 1-877-508-5088 .
