Recurring power outages hit this Pierce County town over 2 days. Here’s what we know
More than 3,000 homes and apartments in Steilacoom were left without power late last week after a substation outage and faulty wiring left some residents without electricity for more than 32 hours.
Town administrator Paul Loveless said the “very uncommon” city-wide power outage began around 4:20 p.m. Thursday and power was eventually restored to all residents around 1 a.m. Saturday.
Loveless said the substation failure was a result of faulty wiring and the need to replace three transformers.
The electric substation is owned by the Bonneville Power Administration, which provides 100% of the power to Steilacoom, Loveless said. At one point all residents were affected because the entire electric system was offline, but some people were affected more than others based on where they lived, Loveless said.
BPA spokesperson Doug Johnson said the cause of the was being investigated Monday but that problems with the city’s distribution system might have contributed.
On March 28, Loveless said in an email to The News Tribune that BPA and the Town of Steilacoom confirmed that a town breaker that did not operate correctly caused the recent power outage.
“That failure prompted BPA to test its transformer to ensure it was operating correctly, with BPA confirming the transformer was in good working order. Testing the transformer and troubleshooting to determine the specific cause of the outage were responsible for the duration of the outage,” Loveless said. “BPA is working with the Town of Steilacoom to ensure the issue is resolved and no longer a threat for future power interruptions.”
Over the course of Thursday and Friday crews with the city, BPA and Lakeview Light and Power had to de-energize areas of town while they replaced faulty wires and transformers, Loveless said. Power was restored on a rolling basis, with crews responding to spot outages, he said.
By 2:45 p.m. Friday most of the city’s power had been restored, with the exception of a significant outage on 3rd Street, he said. Full power wasn’t completely restored until early Saturday morning.
Most of the town gets its power from underground residential distribution cables. That means it can take crews longer to find issues and locate faulty wiring as compared to a downed power line, Loveless said.
“We have an aggressive maintenance program, but sometimes outages happen,” Loveless said.
In the future residents can sign up for timely alerts from the city about issues like this online, he said.
This story was originally published March 25, 2024 at 12:30 PM.
