Equipment failure causes major Bend power outage

About 16,500 Pacific Power customers across the north half of Bend lost power, some for more than an hour Tuesday morning due to an equipment failure on a main transmission line, the utility said.

The lights (and computers, etc.) went off just after 9:30 a.m. over a wide swath of Bend, including the downtown, north and northeast sections of town, putting some businesses on generators and forcing others to take cash only or close for a time. Traffic lights were off, prompting officials to warn drivers to treat them as four-way stops.

The failed equipment on a main transmission line near Bend was soon located and replaced,. About 7,000 customers had service restored around 10:10 a.m. and the rest a half-hour later.

Gaunt explained that the problem was at a junction box near Pilot Butte for a 69,000-volt line, where a connection failed, causing a fault, and the “system protected itself by shutting down.”

“The company wishes to thank all its customers for their patience during this outage,” utility spokesman Tom Gauntt said, adding that customers should report outages by calling 1-877-508-5088.

Check updates for major (over 500 customers) around the state at https://www.pacificpower.net/ed/po/ooi.html