Avista reschedules Sprague outage to Feb. 6

SPOKANE – Avista Utility officials have announced that a planned power outage for the town of Sprague has been rescheduled to Feb. 6. The change was made due to the nature of unexpected repairs to the power system that resulted from the Jan. 13 windstorm.

According to a news release, approximately 480 Avista electric customers in Sprague and the surrounding area will experience a planned power outage on Saturday, Feb. 6. The planned outage will begin at 9 a.m. and end at noon. No road closures are expected during this outage.

The planned outage was originally to have taken place Dec. 15, but was rescheduled to Jan. 16 due to “unforeseen circumstances.” January’s windstorm resulted in extensive damage to regional power systems, with Avista recording over 67,000 customers without power at the height of the storm in its service area.

“Canceling the January planned power outage for Sprague was necessary as we focused on restoring our customer's power as safely and quickly as possible following the windstorm that wreaked havoc on our region,” Ian Eccles, manager of electric operations in Othello and the surrounding area said in a statement. “To limit the inconvenience to our customers, due to the colder temperatures at night, we are planning the Feb. 6 planned power outage for the morning.

During the outage Avista crews will perform maintenance to its Sprague substation. The routine maintenance will increase reliability and reduce future outages in the area.

“We recognize the amount of planning and preparation involved in making arrangements for a planned outage and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause,” Eccles said. “This work is important as it will increase the reliability of the service to your homes and businesses. We will work as quickly and safely as possible to restore your service.”

Customers who have questions or concerns can contact Avista at 800-227-9187 for assistance and reference outage number 1239198.