Northwest energy company asking customers to conserve power

Households across the Pacific Northwest are being asked to cut back their electricity use for the next week.

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Bonneville Power supplies over a third of Washington state’s electricity, and operates three-quarters of the Northwest’s high-voltage transmission grid. Now, it faces a shortage following a frigid February, with the company citing a lack of snow in areas that fill up the Columbia and Snake Rivers, where their dams are.

“That combined with the fact that that snow is not melting as it normally would, which means there’s less water in the river,” Bonneville’s Mike Hansen told KIRO Radio.

Bonneville Power is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and provides electricity to 142 Northwest electric utilities, serving millions of customers across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana, and parts of California, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming.

Because of the Northwest’s recent cold snap, electricity use has been high. Still, the hope is that warm, sunny weather next week will provide some relief.

“It’s supposed to be sunny over the next three days, so we’re asking customers to open their shades on south-facing windows and use the natural warmth of the sun to help heat their home,” said Snohomish County Public Utility District spokesperson Aaron Swaney in a news release. “We’re also asking them to turn the thermostat down a couple of degrees to give their furnace a break.”

Bonneville Power provides roughly two-thirds of Snohomish County PUD’s power. The county is also Bonneville’s biggest customer in the Northwest.

Puget Sound Energy also produces hydro-electric power from the Columbia and Snake Rivers, and while it isn’t facing the same issues as Bonneville, it’s still advising its customers to conserve power over the next week just in case.