Power Still Out for 158,000 in Oregon (UPDATE)

PGE and Pacific Power crews continue to make progress restoring power.

(SALEM) - Pacific Power crews are continuing to respond to outages affecting more than 53,000 customers in Oregon and Washington. As in any outage, crews are focusing first on restoring transmission service, then bringing concentrated areas of customers in local communities back online.

Impediments such as inaccessible areas, serious damage to poles, wires and equipment and the extensive areas affected are causing delays to the restoration effort. Pacific Power continues to advise customers to be prepared for extended outages.

Current areas and Pacific Power customers affected in Oregon:

Albany: 3,918; Clatsop County: 14,394; Central Oregon: 628; Coos Bay: 2,945; Corvallis: 6,546; Cottage Grove: 74; Dallas: 1,946; Grants Pass: 1,950; Hood River: 599; Junction City: 1,653; Lebanon: 2,062; Lincoln City: 11,477; Medford: 4; Portland: 30; Roseburg: 652; Stayton: 2,812.

To report an outage or a downed power line, Pacific Power customers should call 1-877-LITES OUT (1-877-548-3768).

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At 10:30 PM Friday about 105,000 customers are without power throughout PGE's service territory, less than half of the peak of 245,000 at 11:00 last night.

More than 200 crews worked through the night and into this evening. At this time, many of the crews are being released tonight to get some rest before rejoining the restoration effort early tomorrow morning. Some crews will be working through the night to address downed wires and other critical issues that emerge.

More than 25 contract crews (from Eugene and out of state) will be arriving overnight, and they will join PGE crews early tomorrow morning to help restore power to our customers still experiencing outages. We expect the restoration effort to go through the weekend and into early next week.

PGE acknowledges that customers have shown great support and patience, and urges people to look out for their neighbors and those who might need extra help during an extended power outage.

PGE's Customer Contact Center plans to remain open around the clock through the weekend to respond to customer calls. To report an outage or inform PGE about other urgent power-related problems or emergencies, customers should call the numbers shown at the bottom of the page. *********************************** As of 8:00 AM, approximately 165,000 customers were without service, down from 180,000 at 5:00 AM, scattered throughout PGE's service territory. Restoration efforts are expected to continue through the weekend, and perhaps into early next week.

PGE has called in additional contract crews as well as crews from utilities in other states to assist with the effort. In addition to field crews, PGE has set up an additional call center this morning with more staff to take customer calls.

Hundreds of PGE employees worked overnight responding to storm-related outages resulting from Thursday night's windstorm, where gusts reached up to 90 mph in some areas. At the height of the storm, nearly 250,000 customers were affected, representing nearly a third of all PGE customers. This makes this the largest major storm restoration effort since the Dec. 12 1995 storm affecting about 300,000 customers (about 46% of PGE customers at the time). PGE asks customers to exercise extreme caution if they see a downed power line and to report it to PGE. Stay AWAY!

PGE customers who have a new outage to report, or other urgent power related problem or emergency should call 503-464-7777 (Portland calling area); 503-399-7717 (Salem calling area); 1-800-544-1795 elsewhere. Visit www.PortlandGeneral.com for outage preparedness tips and other information.