Okanogan County Electric Co-op

7/14/2025 Outage Update:

5:00 AM

Power has been fully restored to all areas. Please call our office at 509-996-2228 if you are still without power.

Additionally, the Red Flag Warning has expired and we have returned our system to “yellow” status following our Wildfire Mitigation Plan.

10:45 PM

Chewuch Circuit: power has been fully restored. Please call our office at 509-996-2228 if you are in the Chewuch area and are still without power.

Mazama Circuit: crew is working on replacing a broken pole near Lost River Airport. Power will not be restored to this area until the repairs are completed, which we believe will take the rest of the night. Thank you for your patience while we work through this.

7:00 PM

Chewuch Circuit: power to be restored soon. Repairs have been made and final safety patrols are in process.

Mazama Circuit: Power has been restored from the Substation to the Freestone Inn. Additional material and crews are on the way. No ETA for restoration from Freestone to end of Lost River Rd.

5:00 PM – Wind related outages affecting Mazama and Chewuch Circuits. Crews are working in those areas to asses the lines. We are in full Red Wildfire Mitigation Plan and all lines will be visually inspected before restoral. Please expect extended outage times.

If you are experiencing an outage in another part of our service area please call 509-996-2228 to report.

7/13/2025: NWS SAYS “HOT, DRY, WINDY SUNDAY AND MONDAY” ISSUES RED FLAG WARNING

The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for North Central Washington, beginning at 2:00 PM Sunday through 9:00 PM Monday. This warning includes the OCEC service territory within the Methow Valley (Zone 704). As a result of this red flag warning, OCEC is moving to the “Red” level of our Wildfire Mitigation Plan.

OCEC Operations has set all automated line reclosers, including the Substations, to “non-reclose” following our Wildfire Mitigation Plan. Disabling reclosers, either in elevated fire risk or red flag warning conditions, has the effect of both lengthening the duration and increasing the number of outages while minimizing the risk of fire. A recloser is an automatic high-voltage electric switch that operates much like a circuit breaker in your home. When the reclosers are set on “non-reclose” the breaker will operate/open, and the line will be de-energized until OCEC crews can manually inspect the line for problems. Once the line is manually inspected and is confirmed all-clear, the line will be re-energized. This will possibly create longer, more frequent outages during these times.

Taking these proactive fire safety steps may cause more frequent and longer outages, but we hope that our members will understand that the benefits of reduced fire risk outweigh the increase in possible outages.

When the red flag warning expires, or conditions change enough to warrant it, the OCEC Operations crew will return to “Yellow” level, and OCEC will update our website to reflect the current status. For more information, you can view the alert at NWS (offsite link) and you can review our full Wildfire Mitigation Plan at www.ocec.coop.

To report an outage, please call (509) 996-2228.

OCEC CONTRACTS WITH OUTSIDE CREWS

(updated 6/23/25)

Olympic Electric is in our area performing pole replacements for the fiber build-out project. During the next few months, Members will experience sporadic power outages throughout the ARPA grant project boundary (see methownet.com for boundary map). OCEC will attempt to notify those members in advance of the day and estimate the duration of the planned outage.
- Olympic teams will be working from 6:30am through 5:00pm. If you experience an outage *outside* of this time frame, or you were not contacted regarding a planned outage, please call our office at 509-996-2228.
- Our office staff will be aware of the location where the contractors will be working every week.
Wright Tree Service is working on the Winthrop Circuit, performing tree trimming and right-of-way clearing, Monday through Saturday 7:00am – 5:30pm.