Grant County Residents Rankled by Intermittent Power Loss

In pockets of Grant County, frustrations are mounting amid faltering power equipment and persistent, albeit sporadic, outages.

According to befuddled residents, what started as a small and seemingly isolated occurrence has since spread precipitously. They say Grant PUD, for all its apologetics on Facebook, has yet to really venture a sound explanation. (This is disputed by PUD spokesperson Christine Pratt; read on for her response.)

"We have batteries, so it's not too bad for us," says Randy Marrone of Ephrata. He and his wife are staying in an RV park. The couple says it's been dogged by intermittent power loss since Wednesday night or some time thereabouts. "This is big though - it's the whole area. Some people are probably real cold." More than 200 residents have been affected.

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"We've called the PUD," Marrone says. "They just said, 'The cause is unknown at this time. We'll let you know when it comes back up.' It keeps coming back up, but it's been every single day for five days now. It comes up, then comes down."

"The first day, we were without power for, like, three or four hours. It was off all night on the second day. By the third day, it was off for a few hours in the morning, then again in the afternoon." As of Sunday at 1 p.m., the couple was powerless once more.

Pratt says the PUD is trying its best to vanquish the problem once and for all.

"It's not countywide," she says. "It's between Quincy and Ephrata, which is the Winchester area, basically. There's a feeder that's had multiple outages over the last week or so."

"Our crews have been responding every time [the power falters], but they're having trouble finding it because it's intermittent. When they're out there looking for it, the power is on; but then they head back and it goes out again."

Some customers have reported seeing "flashes," Pratt says.

"But it's not an electricity shortage - it's an equipment problem and they just can't pin it down."

Click here to access the PUD's real-time outage map. The utility's outage hotline (1-800-216-5226) is staffed 24 hours a day.