The worst thing about modern power outages in Puget Sound Energy territory is the lack of meaningful information about what’s happening in our community.

How long will the power be out?

How many people dialed the toll-free PSE number to ask this question, and received a meaningless reply? Many thousands from throughout the Northwest, without a doubt.

It wasn’t that long ago that PSE had local offices on Whidbey Island and elsewhere. The local managers had their own line crews and knew what was going on. We could call or stop by the Oak Harbor or Freeland PSE office and get a good summary of the situation, where the worst tree damage had occurred and how long it might take to make repairs. The worst-case scenario was always a big treefall on Fidalgo Island which could cut the energy supply to the entire island. When this happened word spread rapidly through the local PSE offices. This is no longer the case.

Since the local offices were closed in an ill-advised effort to save money, PSE has largely kept its customers in the dark when it comes to information about power outages. We call company headquarters in Bellevue, they give us a generic answer. Some of the call answerers probably couldn’t find Whidbey Island on a map.

PSE laid off most of its own line crews in another ill-advised effort to save money, and seems to have trouble communicating with its contract crews. They’re all working hard and we appreciate their efforts, but it sure would be nice to get some up-to-day, site-specific information.

Millions of people were affected by the most recent power outages. Maybe this will give the Legislature the impetus it needs to investigate PSE to determine if the company is meeting the needs of the public. When it comes to communicating, the answer is clearly no.