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Substation Connector Failure at Fault for Weekend Power Outage by Thomas D'Anella Fox 41, May 16, 2023

KENNEWICK, Wash. -- 7,846 customers were affected by a power outage stemming from the Benton PUD Kennewick substation.

A connector in the Bonneville Power Administration’s transmission line failed the 115,000-volt line. The circuit was in the substation near 10th Avenue and South Washington.

BPA crews responded to the location and opened circuit breakers to work on the line. About half of the Benton PUD customers affected had power restored within two hours. Due to the strain of the using a neighboring station to provide power, the other half of the customers needed to wait until repairs were complete.

Around six hours after the initial outage, power was restored to the remaining customers after a safety clearance was issued by BPA.

The six-hour mark is over the typical restoration time for Benton PUD of two hours. In a press release, Benton PUD says the repairs needed correspondence from the regional operations center in Spokane.

"We have reached out to BPA to identify how we can work together to improve response times and provide better and more frequent updates to our customers in the event we experience a failure with their equipment and transmission system in the future," read the press release.