Customers reported at least 15 scam attempts to City Light this week and other utilities in the Pacific Northwest have reported similar activity. In Seattle, the scammers appear to be targeting Asian small businesses.

The con works like this: A person claiming to work for the utility calls a customer and claims the account is overdue. The caller then threatens to cut off electricity service unless payment is made immediately.

One new twist in this old scam has the con artists seeking payment by pre-paid debit cards, which might not have the same fraud-detection features as a credit card.

“Awareness is the best defense against con artists,” Customer Service Director Kelly Enright said. “An immediate demand for payment is a red flag for fraud. Anyone who gets a call like this should get contact information then hang up and call the utility and police.”

Seattle City Light customer service representatives are available at (206) 684-3000 to advise customers of their account status and answer any questions they might have.

Anyone who believes they have been contacted by a scam artist should report the incident to Seattle Police at (206) 625-5011.

Seattle City Light will not shut off a customer’s electricity for one late payment. Before a shut off is ordered, Seattle City Light will send the customer at least two written notifications.

Additionally, City Light has programs available for customers who are having trouble paying their electric bills, including a low-income rate assistance program where qualifying customers can save up to 60 percent. Information is available at (206) 684-3417.

Seattle City Light is the 10th largest public electric utility in the United States.  It has some of the lowest cost customer rates of any urban utility, providing reliable, renewable and environmentally responsible power to nearly 1 million Seattle area residents.  City Light has been greenhouse gas neutral since 2005, the first electric utility in the nation to achieve that distinction.

Gorge Dam at the Skagit Hydroelectric Project.

Seattle City Light is scheduled to rehabilitate two spillgates at Gorge Dam in Newhalem this summer, which will require lowering the water level of Gorge Lake.

The project will rehabilitate the seals and recoat all surfaces of two 47-foot by 50-foot steel gates.

“This work has been scheduled for several years as a necessary step to ensure the long-term reliability of these gates,” Power Generation Director Mike Haynes said. “Summertime represents the most favorable conditions for performing this work due to the need for predictable weather and worker safety.”

City Light is scheduled to lower the water level in Gorge Lake over three days, starting July 15. During the drawdown, the boat launch at Gorge Lake campground will not be available to visitors. The utility expects the work to be finished in September when the lake would be returned to its normal operating level.

Long Painting of Kent has been hired to complete the project. Surface preparation for the gates will include grit blasting and high pressure water jetting. All surfaces will be recoated with a water-cure urethane paint system. Full containment and remediation of any spray or loosened materials will be required during surface preparation for and recoating of the gates.

Rehabilitating the gate seals is largely steel work involving removal and replacement of steel backing plates and replacement of approximately 1,000 bolts. All work on the gates must be completed before Oct. 1 to ensure their availability as part of the Skagit River flood control system.

Gorge is the oldest dam built on the Skagit River by City Light. Gorge Powerhouse is located in the town of Newhalem. Gorge Dam, two miles upstream, is connected to the powerhouse by an 11,000 foot long, 20.5 foot diameter power tunnel. Powerhouse construction began in 1919 with the first unit going on line in 1924 when the original Gorge Dam was a wood crib structure. Currently Gorge can produce 175 megawatts of renewable electrical power, about 9 percent of the utility’s generating capacity.

Seattle City Light is the 10th largest public electric utility in the United States.  It has some of the lowest cost customer rates of any urban utility, providing reliable, renewable and environmentally responsible power to nearly 1 million Seattle area residents.  City Light has been greenhouse gas neutral since 2005, the first electric utility in the nation to achieve that distinction.

Seattle City Light ironworkers often work high above the ground to maintain transmission towers.

Seattle City Light power lines travel through electrical towers to be delivered to substations and on to customers’ homes or businesses in the greater Seattle area. There are many types of electrical towers that contribute to servicing the greater Seattle area, including lattice, distribution, transmission and communication towers. The workers who repair these towers are known as ironworkers.

Seattle City Light’s 10 ironworkers have a wide variety of responsibilities in serving our customers’ electricity needs behind the scenes. Ironworkers work with the metal materials in electrical towers and make repairs. They also work with civil engineers in underground vaults when welding is needed.

You’re not likely to spot a City Light ironworker in the streets. Most of the time, they are in steel shops, welding and cleaning metal, or climbing high in the air to work on electrical towers.

To get a sneak peek at the work an ironworker does from their perspective, watch this video.

“In a lot of ways it’s very exhilarating,” City Light Structural Ironworker Eric Colville said.

Sometimes, ironworkers have to climb heights of up to 300 feet. Towers this high can take up to 20 minutes to climb.

Ironworkers have many roles to play in maintaining the functionality of these tall towers. The workers install additional steel and sometimes use a welding process to do this. The work also could involve punching or drilling holes into the existing tower to bolt on brackets, fabricated assemblies or structural members.

Ironworker Eric Colville.

Ironworkers play an important role in maintaining the reliable delivery of electricity to City Light’s customers. With work involving welding materials and distant heights, the top priority for these workers is safety.

When working on a tower, Ironworkers are always tied to a system of ropes and pulleys to keep them from falling. The system that lifts the workers onto the towers only gets them to about 170 feet. When a job is higher up a tower, the workers have to climb the rest of the way.

“Whenever we climb a tower, we are perfectly safe. Even if you are up a couple hundred feet, you know in the back of your mind that you are tied off,” Colville said.

Most of the time ironworkers work under a clearance, so the power is turned off. If the power has to be left on during modification work, another employee is assigned as a safety watch for the workers to ensure safe practices.

Seattle City Light is the 10th largest public electric utility in the United States. It has some of the lowest cost customer rates of any urban utility, providing reliable, renewable and environmentally responsible power to nearly 1 million Seattle area residents. City Light has been greenhouse gas neutral since 2005, the first electric utility in the nation to achieve that distinction.

Customers can get outage information online at www.seattle.gov/light/sysstat.

Seattle City Light is the tenth largest public electric utility in the United States.  It has some of the lowest cost customer rates of any urban utility, providing reliable, renewable and environmentally responsible power to nearly 1 million Seattle area residents.  City Light has been greenhouse gas neutral since 2005, the first electric utility in the nation to achieve that distinction.

Seattle City Light is the tenth largest public electric utility in the United States.  It has some of the lowest cost customer rates of any urban utility, providing reliable, renewable and environmentally responsible power to nearly 1 million Seattle area residents.  City Light has been greenhouse gas neutral since 2005, the first electric utility in the nation to achieve that distinction.

Customers can get outage information online at www.seattle.gov/light/sysstat.

 Seattle City Light is the tenth largest public electric utility in the United States.  It has some of the lowest cost customer rates of any urban utility, providing reliable, renewable and environmentally responsible power to nearly 1 million Seattle area residents.  City Light has been greenhouse gas neutral since 2005, the first electric utility in the nation to achieve that distinction

Location: South of South King Street

Crews will be drilling holes to expose the location of underground utility lines before starting construction. This work is done to prevent damage to those lines. The work, called potholing, will occur in coordination with other area projects

As multiple projects are conducting potholing activities in Pioneer Square, crews have coordinated with the Washington State Department of Transportation, the Seattle Department of Transportation and others to schedule necessary work while minimizing disruptions to the neighborhood. This Sunday, May 19, crews will continue investigative fieldwork for Phase 2 of the Central Waterfront Transmission Line Relocation Project. This weekend, potholing activities will occur out of sight and within the fenced off work area maintained by the Seattle Tunnel Partners (STP). Although potholing for this project will occur on Sunday, please note that there will be active work in the area on Saturday as well.

Anticipated fieldwork activities over the next few weekends:

• Crews will be working from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
• Potholing activities are anticipated to wrap up over the next several weekends.
• No weekday fieldwork is anticipated for this project, although crews will be in the area working on other projects during the week. Waterfront Seattle crews will be conducting potholing activities on Railroad Way S for Waterfront Seattle. To learn more about this work, check out Waterfront Seattle’s flyer.

What is the Central Waterfront Transmission Line Relocation Project?

Transmission lines that power Seattle have historically been attached to the vulnerable Alaskan Way Viaduct. Seattle City Light has been working to complete full relocation of these transmission lines along Seattle’s waterfront in advance of viaduct demolition. City Light is ready to complete the design for permanent relocation of the final section of central waterfront transmission lines. This section of 115 kV transmission lines runs from King Street to Yesler Way (see map). Seattle City Light is working to identify a route for the transmission lines in an underground duct bank in a path just west of the existing viaduct.

For more information:

Phone: 206-499-8040

Email: CWFTransmission@seattle.gov

Web: www.seattle.gov/light/aboutus/construction/cwftransmission

Glen Allen, a Seattle City Light tree trimming representative, inspects one of the newly planted trees in Greenlake.

Seattle City Light and the Seattle Department of Transportation worked together to plant 415 trees in parking strip right of ways in the Greenlake area this month.

The two departments pooled resources to maximize cost effectiveness and efficiency. City Light provided trees and support in areas where there are overhead power lines to ensure that appropriate species were planted so they do not create conflicts as they grow. SDOT planted larger trees where there are no power lines.

City Light’s trees are American Hornbeam (Carpinus Caroliniana), Rosy Ridge Carolina Silverbell (Halesia tetraptera “Rosy Ridge”) and Snowcone Japanese Snowbell (Styrax japonicus “Snowcone”).

City Light’s work is part of the utility’s urban tree replacement program, which is charged with mitigating for the utility’s impacts on the urban forest through outreach and education, neighborhood tree planting projects and by replacing the trees we remove with species compatible with our power infrastructure.

SDOT plants about 800 trees each year along its rights of way. These trees were paid for with money from the Bridging the Gap levy.

Both departments are committed to working towards the City of Seattle goal of increasing the urban canopy cover to 30 percent by 2037.

The general area for the tree plantings is bordered by 80^th Street on the north, 69^th Street and Green Lake on the south, Roosevelt Way on the east, and Aurora Avenue on the west.

Tree planting area.

Seattle City Light Chief Information Officer Dirk Mahling, Phd.

Seattle City Light Chief Information Officer Dirk Mahling, Phd., was interviewed by CIO Talk Radio regarding the future of energy services as utilities incorporate more sources of renewable energy into the existing distribution grid and how technology can help.

Among the considerations Mahling identified were growing customer installations of solar and response to peak energy demands.

Neighborhood solar requires the distribution grid to run forward and backward with electricity flowing in both directions. “The smart grid can help to monitor the flows of electricity to make sure that distribution lines are not over-taxed and to make sure that the standard the utility has to hold — 60 hertz for distribution — that there is no reactive power or power quality considerations,” Mahling said.

Peak energy loads drive up energy costs for utilities and their customers. Demand response programs that help customers reduce their use during peak loads – sometimes with automated reductions in air conditioning, lighting or water heating – can create significant savings for customers and utilities.

“Again, you need the information from the smart grid to see the peak occurring to predict it, but then you need to communicate with all those loads on your grid to inform them that the time has come to do that demand reduction,” Mahling said. 

Investments in the distribution network will be needed to support this convergence of technology, neighborhood electricity generation and energy distribution, Mahling said. Seattle City Light has several strategic initiatives underway in this area, including substation and distribution automation.  

“The part of the grid that touches the customer needs to be able to handle the requirements both from an electrical and an informational standpoint,” he said.

Listen to Mahling’s full interview here.

City Councilmember Mike O’Brien helps out on the first Solarize installation in Northeast Seattle.

Solarize Seattle: Northwest—the innovative solar bulk purchase campaign spearheaded by Northwest SEED and Seattle City Light—has just reached an exciting milestone. 

As of this week, 100 Northwest Seattle residents have contracted to install residential solar systems through the program.  This equates to nearly 450 kilowatts of clean, renewable energy that will energize our region for generations to come.

Northwest Seattleites have come out en masse to demonstrate their support for solar energy—free public workshops held this spring attracted more than 600 residents interested in the program. The 100 that have moved forward with a solar installation are simultaneously demonstrating support for local businesses. More than 85 percent of participating homeowners have opted to install solar modules that were manufactured in Washington. 

Through Solarize, participants learn about solar with their neighbors, receive a free site visit from an approved installation team, and access discounted pricing enabled by economies of scale and a group purchase.  This innovative model has helped to drive solar installations in our city, our state, and around the country by making solar easier and more affordable for all.

Moreover, Northwest Seattle’s 100 Solarizers have helped power the Solarize Washington program past another big goal.  Since Northwest SEED launched Solarize Washington in 2011, campaign participants have collectively installed more than one megawatt of new solar power.  See the impact here.

The momentum behind Solarize Seattle: Northwest is magnified by partnerships with 10 local community groups that help spread the word to their members and constituents.  Partnering organizations include Phinney Neighborhood Association, Sustainable Greenwood-Phinney, Sustainable Ballard, Sustainable Wallingford, Sustainable Seattle, Phinney Ridge Community Council, Greenwood Community Council, Wallingford Community Council, Fremont Neighborhood Council, and Green Lake Community Council.

Solarize Seattle: Northwest participants will have until early summer to sign a contract and lock in the program’s discounted rates—there is more solar to come! More information can be found at www.solarizewa.org. 

Additionally, Northwest SEED and City Light are recruiting community organizations in Southeast Seattle for the next installation campaign. Details on that effort are available here.