A14 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
in 2015 Hermiston Energy
Services customers were
without power for an av-
erage of 3.5 hours over the
year.
The average, howev-
er, is not spread out even-
ly. Some connected to the
Butte substation, for ex-
ample, experienced power
outages on May 18, May
13 and Feb. 22 while other
HES customers have not
experienced any disruption
in service all year.
A mid-2014 compari-
son by the East Oregonian
found that HES custom-
ers were without power an
average of 3.6 hours over
the course of 12 months,
compared with 3.1 hours at
Umatilla Electric Coopera-
tive, 1.4 hours with Paciic
Power and less than a min-
ute with Milton-Freewater
Electric.
“We’re providing ser-
vice 99.96 percent of the
time, but people notice
when it’s off,” Rivera said.
Improving
reliability
costs money, however, and
Hermiston Energy Ser-
vices doesn’t have as much
as it used to. The utility
didn’t raise rates between
POWER:
continued from Page A1
of smart meters that would
tell HES when the power is
out.
Currently, the utility
depends on customers to
report when their lights go
out, and then depends on a
visual check of the neigh-
borhood to assess how far
the blackout extends.
“We’re still driving
around with our head out
the window,” Rivera said.
A smart meter system
would alert HES as soon as
the power goes out and give
a map of the outage, allow-
ing crews to more quickly
pinpoint the problem and
begin working to ix it. It
would also save on opera-
tional costs for meter read-
ing and allow HES to give
customers a more detailed
account of how their pow-
er use luctuates throughout
the day.
The estimated cost
would be between $1.5 mil-
lion and $1.75 million.
On Monday Rivera pre-
sented the reliability num-
bers for HES, noting that
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2016
FROM PAGE A1
STAFF PHOTO BY GARY L. WEST
Electrical equipment at a substation near the Umatilla
Electric Cooperative ofice on West Elm Avenue help supply
power to Umatilla Electric and Hermiston Energy Services.
2003 and 2015, prefer-
ring to subsidize operating
costs through its reserve
fund rather than increasing
rates. As a result, HES rates
for the average residen-
tial customer run at about
$116 per month, compared
to $118 for UEC, $199 for
PGE and $227 for Paciic
Power.
Rivera said in 2014-
2015 alone the utility used
almost $1 million of its
reserves, which is why
the city implemented an
11 percent rate increase in
2015.
Much of the increased
cost of doing business
came from continued in-
creases in price from Bon-
neville Power Administra-
tion, which sells Hermiston
Energy Services its whole-
sale power. Those increas-
es are expected to continue
on a regular basis.
To put HES operations
in the black and also come
up with the money for cap-
ital improvement, Rivera
recommended the city ap-
prove a rate increase of ap-
proximately 4.4 percent for
the coming iscal year and
a similar or larger increase
the year after.
He also recommended
that the city reinance the
bond that funded the for-
FIRE:
continued from Page A1
a sedan. The four motorcy-
clists were traveling togeth-
er from Tacoma, Washing-
ton.
A LifeFlight helicopter
lew one victim from the
scene and ambulances took
three other injured people
to Good Shepherd Medical
Center in Hermiston.
As bystanders and lat-
er irst responders worked
to take care of the injured,
lames lared up multiple
times along the side of the
road, at one point jumping
the interstate and burning
the sagebrush in the median
where the crash scattered
debris. All four lanes were
closed to trafic for several
hours.
Hermiston Fire & Emer-
gency Services spokesper-
son J.W. Roberts at about
4:30 p.m. said the ire was
30 percent contained and
mop-up and patrol oper-
ations would go on for
hours. The ire burned over
3,000 acres and consumed
one small building, a larger,
vacant building and power
poles.
About 70 responders in
all were at the ire, he said,
from ire agencies in Uma-
tilla and Morrow counties,
plus members of the Ore-
gon Military Department,
state police and transpor-
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Trafic stands still in the southbound lane of Interstate 82
after a wreck near a wildire on the Umatilla Army Depot on
Monday west of Hermiston. Smoke caused multiple accidents
on the freeway, causing authorities to close the interstate.
The headlights of ire vehicle can be seen though heavy
smoke as lames erupt as ire burns into a patch of
sagebrush on Monday at a wildire on the Umatilla Army
Depot west of Hermiston.
tation department and the
U.S. Bureau of Indian Af-
fairs. In total, 19 engines
and seven water tenders
were dispatched, according
to information from Herm-
iston Fire Chief Scott Stan-
ton.
The spark of the ire
may have come from an
pot land to the Columbia
Development Authority, a
partnership of local gov-
ernment entities. Part of
the land will be used for
a National Guard training
base, part of it will func-
tion as a nature preserve
Oregon Army National
Guard member training
with an “artillery simula-
tion round,” Roberts said,
though the state military
department considers the
cause under investigation.
The U.S. Army is in the
process of transferring the
Umatilla Chemical De-
and some of it has been
zoned industrial and will
be marketed for economic
development.
Greg Smith, executive
director of the Columbia
Development Authority,
said the ire shouldn’t de-
mation of the municipal
utility in 2001. There are
currently 17 years left on
the bond, and various re-
inancing options would
save the city money on in-
terest payments.
Rivera said the budget
he has submitted for 2016-
2017 includes $500,000
for the new substation, and
a bond reinance would
mean that the utility only
had to pay on interest,
not principal, in 2016-
2017, providing an extra
$450,000 in savings to also
pay for the new substation.
“It really makes sense
for us to look at this,” he
said.
City councilors and
Mayor David Drotzmann
agreed.
“We can’t keep using
our savings,” Drotzmann
said. “That’s not sustain-
able.”
Nothing was adopted at
Monday’s meeting, but Ri-
vera said now that he has
direction from the coun-
cil he will put something
together on the reinance
and rate increase and come
back to the council later in
the summer.
lay transfer of the land,
which is anticipated in
spring 2017. The nature of
the National Guard activi-
ties — including irearms
training — coupled with
the acres of dry sagebrush
always has made ire a
concern on the property,
he said. This ire just un-
derscores how “critical”
the conversation with the
Army is about making sure
there is suficient water on
site for ire suppression.
Smith said the moment
the land is transferred to
the CDA they will sign
agreements with area
fire districts in Umatil-
la County and Morrow
County to make sure the
people and property on
the land are protected,
while also making sure
those districts benefit
from the expanded tax
base that development of
the property will bring
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