Today’s electric grid and the demands placed on it are growing all the time. At Lassen Municipal Utility District (LMUD), our job is to provide safe and reliable power.
The recent Dixie Fire in the Feather River Canyon created a challenge for us all by disabling and damaging the Caribou transmission line that provides LMUD with the power we distribute to our customers. PG&E worked to provide an alternate power source—the Hat Creek line—which LMUD used to provide power on a rotating basis to customers.
While not ideal, it was important to provide the best possible distribution and amount of power to each customer. LMUD’s normal backup supply for such emergencies—Honey Lake Power—was not able to operate during this critical time due to an electrical equipment problem. HLP has since corrected this problem and began operating July 23.
LMUD will remain on HLP backup power while PG&E assesses damage and completes repairs on the Caribou line.
We want our customers to know that every minute an LMUD customer is without power we make it our highest priority to restore that power—whether an outage affects one customer or thousands.
Because we understand how critical electricity is to the safety and welfare of the community we serve, LMUD puts all hands on deck around the clock to restore power during these events. I’ve seen our employees give their all in this last month to respond to customer concerns, and to restore or distribute the limited power to which we had access.
Our opportunity now is to move forward with a major project LMUD has been working on for some time. The Skedaddle Interconnection Project offers an opportunity to connect to a high voltage transmission line operated by NV Energy in Nevada. This line—scheduled for completion in 2024—will provide a much higher level of reliability than the PG&E Caribou line.
Preliminary design, study, and permitting work is complete. The LMUD Board of Directors recently authorized the procurement and construction phase of the large, technically complex project.
The LMUD board is committed to keeping costs as low as possible. However, it is apparent the project will impact electricity rates. We believe the benefit is worth the cost and that this project will best serve the needs of our community.
I want to thank our customers for their patience during these difficult outage events. I assure you our dedication to service will continue, and our system and our electrical supply will become more reliable.
We will be in touch with you, our customers, soon. I hope you can provide us feedback and comments regarding the service we provide. We look forward to hearing from you. Please know LMUD staff is committed to providing safe and reliable service to customers.
As we go forward, it is our goal to keep our customers involved and up to date. If you have questions, please visit our FAQ page or email our customer service department.
Pat Holley
General Manager