from Suzanne Olson
Orcas Power & Light Cooperative (OPALCO) is working with CenturyLink to help resolve a county-wide service outage due to a submarine cable break on CenturyLink’s system. Service was disrupted early Tuesday, November 5. OPALCO has a robust data communications infrastructure installed across the county to serve our electrical distribution system and is making those resources available to aid our fellow utility.
Cooperative work efforts are underway with a priority on phone and 911 service restoration. No estimates on service restoration are available at this time, but updates will be posted on OPALCO’s website: www.opalco.com, as well as on Facebook (Orcas Power & Light Cooperative) and Twitter (@orcaspower). Please help us to spread the word for the sake of public safety.
Until service is restored, OPALCO members should call the following numbers to report a power outage:
- Lopez & Shaw: 468-2991
- San Juan: 378-4151
- Orcas: 376-2331
In case of emergency, please use the following numbers to access 911:
- Lopez & Shaw: 468-2991
- San Juan: 911
- Orcas: 376-2331
OPALCO’s fiber service, through Island Network, delivers data communications capacity to public institutions as well as some commercial entities. There is currently a moratorium on new connections through Island Network as the Co-op goes through a comprehensive infrastructure design and review process.
OPALCO is our member-owned cooperative electric utility, powering more than 11,000 members on 20 islands in San Juan County. OPALCO provides electricity that is 95% greenhouse-gas free and is generated predominantly by hydroelectric plants. OPALCO was founded in 1937.
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Once again OPALCO shows that they are an active, responsive and reliable asset to our island community. We can trust them to provide service and to help us when needed – because they live here and because they are a local co-op.
Let us recognize that the problem was caused by a mega-corporation with little clue about the needs of Islanders and little reason to adequately invest in infrastructure and maintenance. Now we are paying the price.
There are lessons to be learned from this event. We need a phone system that is robust, well maintained and that has redundancy built in. We need local cell service not reliant on CenturyLink’s phone lines.
We also were let down by our local emergency planning staff. It took a day for each island’s fire and police staff to put together a response – a plan that should have been in place all along. And this was no real disaster. If it had been an earthquake, not just phone connectivity would have been disrupted. Are our county’s plans for other emergencies as lacking as they proved to be in this case?
Thank you OPALCO for showing that local co-ops can step up to the plate.
Just a question:
Is it unreasonable to ask whether there is still the opportunity to have OPALCO provide retail broadband service to all interested parties on our island? What would be the time frame for this? Those who have governmental connectivity though OPALCO on the island are doing well (ask those who work at county, schools, etc.)
[Early yesterday morning (first outage day)I tried to call off-island. I received the false busy signal. After calling the CenturyLink outage number and going through the prompts, I was told, “There is no service disruption in your area.”]
OrcasIssues, Can you tell us why the submarine cable is broken?
We had immediate response and help from the OIFR. We had internet through Rockisland. What ever happened to the microwave telephone system. After a really high wind we would get service back really fast. I think they just stepped outside and pushed on the dish. We’ve heard from everyone but Century Link.