Project work will cause short outages for customers of Chugach Electric Association on the northern Kenai Peninsula during the week of June 24.  The outages are necessary to allow temporary, taller structures to be installed adjacent to the Hope Substation to permit a rebuild of that facility later this year.  In order to safely install the new poles, a section of the transmission line needs to de-energized and be taken out of service for several days.

The first series of outages are planned for Monday, June 24.  Chugach customers in Hope are expected to be out of power for an hour, beginning at 11:00 a.m.  Sunrise-area customers will have a similar outage between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.  The Summit Lake area is expected to be without power for two hours, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. 

While the transmission line segment is out of service, Chugach will use on-site generators to provide power to customers in Hope and Sunrise.  Customers as far north as Summit Lake will be fed from power plants on the Kenai Peninsula, while customers south to Portage and Whittier will be served by plants to the north.

Later in the week a similar series of outages will be necessary to re-energize the transmission line and return the system to a more-normal configuration.  Currently Chugach is planning for these outages to occur on Friday, June 28.  Summit Lake is expected to be out of power from 10:00 a.m. to noon, Sunrise from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. and Hope from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.  There is a chance the outages could happen at the same times a day earlier, depending upon how quickly crews can build the temporary structures at the Hope Substation.

Unplanned events could delay or shift anticipated outage times.  Customers with questions about the outages may call Chugach’s member services department at 907-563-7366 for information and updates. 

Chugach is the largest electric utility in Alaska, providing power for Alaskans throughout the Railbelt through retail, wholesale and economy energy sales.