Mission Valley Power extended outage duration explained
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My name is Jean Matt. In June 2014 I was selected as the seventh general manger at Mission Valley Power since 1988.
The best plans are just that, plans. Bonneville Power Administration planned for an 8-hour outage on Oct. 17 from 11 p.m. to Oct. 18 at 7 a.m. Mission Valley Power advertised the outage for three weeks prior in three local newspapers, with Anderson Broadcasting (local radio), and called all customers in a call capture system that had used information given by customers.
Immediately following the planned outage, an unplanned outage commenced, which lasted an additional three hours and fifteen minutes for most Mission Valley Power customers. Since Mission Valley Power purchases most of its power from Bonneville Power Administration, 13,000 of Mission Valley Power customers were without power: roughly 70 percent of the customer base. As far as the extension for the outage, Bonneville Power Administration had not completed their work and could not re-energize the power until it was safe. Over 20 people from BPA worked at the site since Wednesday Oct. 16, additional Mission Valley Power staff was authorized to be available to assist, to do everything possible to limit the extent of the outage.
Looking forward customers can enjoy increased reliability from Bonneville’s upgrades to capacity; maintenance was long overdue as it had been deferred for several years. An after-action review is being completed internally. Mission Valley Power will continue to strive for the best communication possible.
Preparing for the unexpected is difficult. As a Mission Valley Power customer, and a family man, I am thankful that I had time to prepare for the planned outage. It left me wanting to learn more about what I could do in the event of the unexpected outage, and how can I be prepared going forward.
— MVP is a federally owned utility, operated and maintained by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
— MVP customers enjoy the lowest rates in Montana.
— MVP does not own (Kerr) Salish and Kootenai Dam.
— MVP is a power distributor, not a power generator.
— MVP purchases 80 percent of its power from Bonneville Power Administration, 19 percent from (Kerr) Salish and Kootenai Dam, 1 percent from small hydro.
