Since its inception as an electrical provider in 2013, Jefferson PUD has continually worked toward underground utility lines whenever possible. The goal: Provide a more stable grid for all customers.
Undergrounding of utility lines reduces the likelihood of line faults commonly caused by tree and vehicle damage. Further, the PUD is proactive by undergrounding cable in conduit rather than traditional methods of simply burying cable directly in a trench system. Cable-conduit undergrounding shields the utility line, allowing for a longer lifespan of the wire. Faults may still occur in underground lines, often requiring more time to locate and repairing the damaged section, though the protection afforded by being several feet below ground offers superior reliability.
Need to dig? Please call 8-1-1 at least two business days in advance of digging. The 8-1-1 service automatically notifies any utility services in the area outlined to identify potential underground hazards. It’s free and easy and best of all helps keep you and your neighbors safe!
Enhanced Software
In the past two years Jefferson County PUD has also invested in new software programs like SCADA and OMS. SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) software gathers data in real time from remote locations to control equipment and conditions. SCADA is used in the power industry as well as in telecommunications, transportation, and water and waste control. In an outage, Jefferson County PUD can use SCADA to reroute service instantly and remotely from one substation to another, which in some cases helps restore power even before the lineman arrive.
OMS is our Outage Management System. It helps us locate, track, and diagnose outages across the county online and in real time. If you have called in an outage in the last year and a half, our operators recorded your information into OMS. If you’ve set up a SmartHub account to pay your bill online, you can also use that same account to report an outage to OMS. And OMS lets you see outages in real time on our website’s Outage Map. Both SCADA and OMS, and even Smart Hub, have helped the Jefferson County PUD provide better service, faster.
Upgraded Facilities
Prior to 2013, Jefferson PUD had one office in Chimacum and 8 employees. Today we have more than 50 employees, two offices in Chimacum, and a main operations yard and customer service center at 310 Four Corners Road in Port Townsend and our newest facility at 191 Otto Street in Port Townsend. And we’re still growing.
In the next five years the PUD is looking to consolidate and modernize its operations and facilities into one or possibly two locations that will enhance staff capacity and improve customer service ability. 2019 Consolidated Facilities Project