According to the local paper, our power rates are likely to quintuple next month as a result of the avalanche that knocked out Juneau’s supply of hydro power. The whole city is currently running off of diesel generators and will most likely continue to run off of them for the next 3 to 4 months.
The transmission line to Juneau from the Snettisham Power House, about 40 miles south of town, went down at 3:54 a.m., Wood said. The avalanche started three miles from the power house. It was 1.5 miles across.
A helicopter was used by Alaska Electric Light and Power Co (AEL&P) to assess the damage. One of the transmission towers was down completely and four others were damaged. The bad weather at the time prevented AEL&P from making a complete assessment of the damage. To add insult to injury, shortly after the the helicopter left another avalanche took out additional towers.
It’s just a terrible place to have a transmission line,” AEL&P General Manager Tim McLeod said. “Those are straight-up-and-down cliffs.
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It’s almost the summer time, can’t you wear an extra sweater or 2 🙂
Tim,
That’s funny. I am starting to wear sweaters. But when your facing an electric bill that is going to be quintuple it’s normal cost, you tell me if you don’t unplug everything you own as soon as you get home.
Living in Juneau I am some what used to the power going out for a day or two at a time. But we’re being told that we might have to live like this for 3 to 4 months.