GIG HARBOR, Wash. — Power has been restored to most customers in Gig Harbor after a system-wide transmission outage led to disruptions for tens of thousands of customers Wednesday.
As of noon, 34,775 Peninsula Light Company customers were out of power. By 1:45 p.m., power was restored to all but 11 customers. The outage affected areas including Gig Harbor, Fox Island, Purdy, Vaughn and Lakebay.
The power company initially reported the outage at about 11 a.m. and said staff and crews were working to restore service as quickly as possible. Dispatch restored the system in sections, according to Peninsula Light Company.
The outage affected several local businesses, including the Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce, which said it was offline until the outage was resolved, and First Financial Northwest Bank, which temporarily closed its Gig Harbor and University Place branches. The University Place branch has reopened.
The Gig Harbor Police Department lost power, although it said no major incidents occurred,
The majority of Peninsula School District schools and buildings were affected by the power outage. As of noon, the district said it was keeping students at school.
Tacoma Community College’s Gig Harbor campus also experienced an outage, which has since been restored.
Tacoma Public Utilities also reported a major outage Wednesday morning with 23,948 customers without power at one point. Power was restored to all Tacoma Public Utilities customers within 40 minutes, the utility said.
Tacoma power crews were performing required testing on the transmission system that protects the line between Cushman Power Plants and Northeast Tacoma. There was an unexpected operation, which caused equipment outside the scope of the test to de-energize portions of the network.
“We regret that so many of our customers lost power,” a Tacoma Public Utilities spokesperson said.
The utility said it would investigate to understand the root cause of the outage.