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Utility official: winter storms knocked out power for "over 50%" of customers; rate study underway
Summary
A utility representative told the Port Ludlow council that atmospheric-river storms caused outages affecting more than half of customers at the peak, described restoration and mutual-aid steps, and said a utility rate study is underway to explain systemwide pressures.
James, a utility official who briefed the council, said recent atmospheric-river storms produced severe outages and that "At 1 point during the largest peak of the average, we had over 50% of our customers out of power." He described causes ranging from branches across multiple phases to broken poles, and said mutual aid helped restore many customers within hours while more challenging repairs left some without power for roughly a day and a half.
James said the utility has opened a rate study to examine structural drivers of higher bills and offered to share spreadsheets or background materials so residents can see regional context. "Our rate study is underway," he said, adding that many drivers are regional and not unique to Port Ludlow. Council members asked for data to share with neighbors; James agreed to provide supporting materials on request.
