A few weeks ago Seattle City Light Superintendent Jorge Carrasco held a meeting for Queen Anne residents to discuss the five power outages that occurred on the hill during the month of September. I was not able to attend this meeting due to illness, and it’s taken me some time to gather the information that was covered (apologies on the delay!).

The first power outage occurred on Thursday, September 10. It was a scheduled power outage so that crews could repair and upgrade power lines in the vicinity of 8th Ave W and W McGraw, however a number of the people affected were not notified ahead of time due to a combination of clerical and human errors. The next outage was on Wednesday, September 16 and was unplanned, affecting 6,566 for just over an hour. A planned outage was scheduled on the morning of Saturday, September 26 to repair damage from the previous blackout, which led to another unplanned outage later that day, that affected 11,975 people for three and a half hours. Repairs could not be made as they required access to a vault that had energized lines, so power was re-routed to accommodate those without. The last outage occurred the next day, Sunday, September 27, knocking out power to 10,003 (approximately the same bunch affected by the outages on September 16th and 26th, though not all) in Queen Anne and Magnolia for much of the night. Some customers were out of power for as long as seven and a half hours. And again, repairs were not able to be made due to the energized vault, so power has continued to be temporarily re-routed.

So what ultimately caused the outages? Here’s what City Light had to say,

The three unplanned outages are all related to (basically) the same cause – old, deteriorated underground equipment. The underground cables are more than 30 years old. In the mid-1970s, City Light used the technology available at the time to install its underground system. This included directly burying cables into the ground. That means there was no protective conduit encasing the cables. Over time, the cables have deteriorated. Heat, water and age have caused the cables to crack and ultimately fail. We are seeing the results of this deterioration now. Because budgets for maintenance have been delayed or deferred, needed repairs and/or replacement haven’t occurred. Nearly 40% of the 2500 miles of underground cable in City Light’s system is in this condition.

Eager to handle the situation before the winter months set in, City Light scheduled another planned outage on Monday, October 26 to make further repairs to the underground electrical distribution system. This outage was primarily around Seattle Center. And whatever they did, it seems to be working, considering there were no more spontaneous outages in October. But in order to ensure the issue is fully resolved, City Light has said it will be replacing approximately four to six block of underground cable that is “in need of attention” around 8th Ave W and W Galer. They estimate the work will take between four to six weeks, and is scheduled to be completed before the new year. “Customers in this area may experience one or two planned outages as a result of the work,” City Light Communications & Public Affairs Director Suzanne Hartman wrote. “However, customers will be notified.”