Pacific Power held a public town hall in Madras on Wednesday, June 25, to address growing frustration over repeated power outages that have struck the area five times since the start of the month — some tied to the company’s wildfire safety protocols, others to substation equipment failures.
The meeting comes after Jefferson County officials and local farmers sounded the alarm over the economic toll the outages are taking on an agricultural community already stretched thin by drought and limited water allocations.
What Is Causing the Outages?
PacifiCorp, the parent company of Pacific Power, has deployed what it calls “enhanced safety settings” on its transmission equipment. When sensors detect a potential fault — a condition that could spark a wildfire — the system automatically de-energizes power lines until workers can safely inspect and restore service.
“We understand that any outage of power can be a hardship for customers that we’re sympathetic to that,” said PacifiCorp spokesman Simon Gutierrez. “What we’re faced with is a time of elevated fire risk and extreme fire danger compared to years past.”
PacifiCorp has faced intense scrutiny since the 2020 Labor Day wildfires, during which its poorly maintained equipment was blamed for sparking fires that burned across thousands of acres. The company recently settled a nearly $600 million federal lawsuit related to those fires.
Impact on Farmers and Residents
For Jefferson County’s agricultural community, the outages are more than an inconvenience. The North Unit Irrigation District — the lifeblood of farming in the area — says unexpected power cuts compromise its ability to manage water deliveries.
“We’ll have gates that are shut down and then they go to correct themselves when the power comes back on, and it ends up spilling water down through our system,” said NUID General Manager Josh Bailey. “It puts our system at risk for catastrophic breaches.”
Fifth-generation farmer Evan Thomas was blunter: “That crop needs that water. Not only did I pay for that water that’s running down the river, but my crop is also suffering.”
Jefferson County Commissioner Kelly Simmelink said the situation demands a systemic solution. “I think this is a legislative fix and I don’t know whether that’s at the state level or even higher,” Simmelink said. “Pacific Power’s obviously getting sued into oblivion for causing these wildfires — I get it — but it’s really putting a pinch on us here in Jefferson County.”
What Pacific Power Says It’s Doing
Gutierrez said some of the June outages were related to substation equipment issues, and that repairs are already underway. “Our engineering team is also reviewing additional line segments for potential reliability improvements,” he said.
PacifiCorp says it deployed a team of meteorologists to monitor fire and weather conditions and trigger the enhanced safety settings only when conditions are high-risk. The utility sent a customer advisory at the start of fire season and a follow-up email this week to Jefferson County customers specifically.
The town hall was an opportunity for residents to ask questions directly, though many left still wondering whether this summer will bring more interruptions as drought conditions persist and fire danger remains at the extreme level.