Avista crews work to restore power amid heavy snow

86% of customers have their power back as crews work through challenging winter conditions

Spokane, Wash. March. 13, 2025, 10 a.m.: Since Wednesday, Avista crews have been working non-stop to restore power to approximately 61,000 customers originally impacted by Wednesday's windstorm. With the majority of assessments complete, estimated restoration times are now available for most customers. Crews continue to work around the clock to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. Avista remains well-staffed and additional contract crews arrived yesterday to assist in the restoration efforts.

As of 10 a.m. Friday, approximately 8,495 customers are without power, with around 306 unique outage incidents. Approximately 86% of customers have been restored. Friday, all available resources continue working to restore customer outages, including over 47 Avista line crews, 14 contract crews and 16 vegetation management crews. Hundreds of Avista employees are also supporting the restoration effort.

Wednesday's windstorm caused widespread damage to Avista's infrastructure. Strong winds caused trees and vegetation to come into contact with power lines and poles, pulling them to the ground. Once the wind stopped blowing, Avista crews patrolled hundreds of miles of line navigating treacherous terrain and fallen trees and debris. They patrolled by foot, vehicle, helicopter and drone to assess the damage, which helps speed up the restoration process.

New snowfall poses additional challenges to our restoration efforts. One power pole can take up to eight hours to replace. As power is restored throughout Avista's service territory, crews will be reassigned to support the remaining restoration efforts until every customer has their power restored. Given the magnitude of devastation in certain areas and the recent snowfall, we now know some customers in the Silver Valley and Colville may not have power until Sunday.

Detailed estimated restoration times will be updated as we complete ongoing damage assessments, and we will keep customers updated as more information becomes available.

Safety during an outage
We want our customers to stay safe. With this storm, trees have brought a significant number of power lines down. Customers should treat all power lines as if they are energized. Customers should stay away from any downed power lines, not attempt to remove limbs from downed or sagging power lines, and should not drive over power lines. If customers see a downed power line, they should call 911 immediately and then Avista at (800) 227-9187 to report its location.

Avista suggests customers take the following steps during an outage:

• Turn off all the appliances that were on before the power went out.
• Unplug electronic equipment, including computers.
• Leave a light or radio on as an alert when power has been restored.
• Help Avista crews working in a neighborhood know which homes have power by turning on the front porch light.
• Do not wire an emergency generator into a home's electrical system, unless there is a disconnect switch to separate generated power from Avista's distribution system. Back feed into power lines could injure or kill a lineman working to get electricity restored.
• Use a generator only to run specific appliances and locate it outside with the exhaust facing away from the house so poisonous carbon monoxide fumes do not enter the home.

Restoration process
To restore power in an outage, we focus on restoring power to critical infrastructure first, such as transmission lines and substations, and emergency facilities like hospitals. These restoration efforts may not be as visible to customers, given the location of this infrastructure across Avista's system. Once critical customers and transmission lines are restored, crews then work to make repairs that will restore power along impacted distribution feeder lines to a larger number of customers. This will leave some customers without power while their neighbors have been restored. Avista crews will come back through to restore individual outages in neighborhoods, which means customers may see service people in their neighborhood multiple times.

What customers can do
Customers can report a power outage online or through their mobile device at myavista.com/outage or by calling (800) 227-9187. They can also download the mobile app for reporting. Registered customers can also text "OUT" to AVISTA (284-782) or "STAT" to get current status. To register, text "REG" to AVISTA (284-782). The phone number must match the number on the account.

Updated outage status information, including estimated restoration times, when known, is also available on the outage map. Customers can also follow Avista's Facebook and Instagram accounts for updates.

Customers can aid in the restoration process by checking their service equipment for needed repairs. All of these repairs need to be made by a licensed electrician before we can safely restore power to the home. If a customer's home sustained damage during this storm, the overhead mast may need attention and repair. The mast is usually located on the roof, where electric service connects from the power pole to the home. Customers should look for an overhead mast that is bent and pulled away from the house, causing a wire to hang, or to see if the bent mast broke the fitting where the wire connects to the electric meter. Customers should also look to see if they have a broken meter fitting that caused an arc or burned meter socket.

To find a licensed, bonded and insured electrician, customers can visit myavista.com/dealer-search.

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About Avista Utilities

Avista Utilities is involved in the production, transmission and distribution of energy. We provide energy services and electricity to 422,000 customers and natural gas to 383,000 customers in a service territory that covers 30,000 square miles in eastern Washington, northern Idaho and parts of southern and eastern Oregon, with a population of 1.7 million. Avista Utilities is an operating division of Avista Corp. (NYSE: AVA). For more information, please visit myavista.com.

The Avista logo is a trademark of Avista Corporation.

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