Truckee Donner Public Utility District
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Active Outage Updates
Outage updates will be provided for widespread or extended outages.
Recent Outage Recaps
Sept. 19, 2024—At around 9:30am, damage occurred to a transmission power pole that NV Energy and Liberty Utilities use to transmit power to TDPUD's distribution system. The line was de-energized to allow for repairs to be made, and TDPUD customers in Glenshire lost power as a result. The repairs were extensive and required power to remain out in the area and even interrupted train traffic for most of the day. Power was restored to TDPUD customers about 6:30pm.
Aug. 15, 2024—At around 9:15am, we experienced an outage in the Prosser area. Power was restored to some customers by 9:40am, and all customers had power back by 10:10am. The cause is unknown, and was likely due to the sensitivity of our system while it is in wildfire safety mode.
TDPUD’s electric system is currently in a wildfire safety configuration called “one shot,” which reduces the risk of our equipment igniting a wildfire, but in exchange makes it more prone to outages and affects restoration time. Stay prepared this wildfire season by learning about wildfire safety power outages at tdpud.org/wildfire.
Aug. 11, 2024—At around 7:30pm, we experienced a system-wide outage without warning. The cause was the Gold Ranch Fire in Verdi, which was close enough to NV Energy transmission lines that they opted to de-energize the lines that feed Truckee, Liberty Utilities in North Lake Tahoe, and others. Power was not restored until around 10:30pm. We were told to expect power to be out until the following morning, so we are happy it came back sooner. Earlier in the day a wildfire started in Truckee (Pass Fire), but it did not cause power to be lost.
Aug. 7, 2024—At 6:22pm, there was an outage on the circuit that feeds the Prosser area that affected approximately 790 customers. Crews responded, and half the customers were restored at about 8:30pm, with the remainder regaining power by 9:30pm. The cause of the outage was investigated but could not be determined. The outage was likely a consequence of our system being in "one shot" mode during wildfire season. This is a safety practice that mitigates wildfire risk, but in turn makes the system more prone to outages since we disable some automatic functions of the equipment.
Aug. 3, 2024—At about 2pm, an outage occurred in Sierra Meadows during a period of heavy rain and lightning. The outage affected approximately 100 customers. It was originally reported that ~700 customers were out of power, but that was an error in TDPUD’s outage monitoring system. Power was restored around 7pm. Crews later needed to trigger a very brief outage at about 11pm to fix a remaining issue. This outage lasted only a minute or two. After investigation, the electric operations team has concluded that the outage was due to a lightning strike.
During wildfire season, we implement a safety practice called "one shot." We turn off the automatic capability of our system to avoid outages caused by temporary faults (like a branch falling or a squirrel interfering with a power line). This is to mitigate wildfire risk. However, it increases the frequency of outages we experience in the summer and fall, as well as increases restoration time.
Outage recaps will remain on the website for at least one week following widespread or extended outages.
Sign Up for Outage Alerts
Truckee Donner PUD has a new, automated outage management system to keep customers informed during power outages, and send real-time, customized alerts to only the customers experiencing an outage.
To sign up for outage alerts, follow these steps:
1. Log on to your SmartHub account. If you don't have a Smartub account, you'll need to create one. Click here for step-by-step instructions for creating a new account.
2. From the menu at the top of the page, select "Notifications" and then "Manage Notifications."
3. Select "Service" from the menu, and then select the options to receive email and/or text alerts for power outages.
4. Check that your contact information is up-to-date, and be sure to verify your mobile number. See the tutorial below for step-by-step instructions.
Outage Text Verification Tutorial
1. Go to tdpud.org and click “My Account” in the top right corner
2. When prompted, log in to your SmartHub account
3. Once on the homepage, click on the menu button in the top right corner
4. Under the “Notifications” tab, click “Manage Contacts”
5. If you do not have a phone number associated with your TDPUD account, click “+Add Phone Contact”
6. If you see your phone number listed, click on the green button to the right that says “Confirm Contact”
7. Click the checkboxes next to “Receive Text Messages” and “Receive Voice Calls”
8. Click the green button to the right that says “Continue”
9. Click the green button that says “Agree” to agree to the terms & conditions
10. You will receive a text with a 6-digit verification code
11. Enter the verification code in the box and click the green button that saves “Save Contact”
12. You will now receive outage text alerts! You will receive a confirmation text if the verification was successful, and in SmartHub it will say “Text Enrolled” next to your mobile number.