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Delivering Power to Priest Lake

A Planned Outage Today Helps Build a More Reliable System for Tomorrow

Willie Wiredhand greets the community at the Priest Lake picnic.

For many Priest Lake residents, a power outage usually signals something has gone wrong.

A winter windstorm pushes towering pines into power lines. Heavy snow snaps poles. Crews race against the weather to restore electricity as quickly and safely as possible.

In recent months, that scenario has become all too familiar. 3 major storms—in December 2025, March 2026, and May 2026—caused widespread outages throughout the Priest Lake area as severe winds toppled trees into power lines and damaged utility poles.

But the outage on June 15 through June 16 was different. This time, the lights went out exactly as planned.

From 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on both days, nearly 3,500 Northern Lights members served by the Lamb Creek, Coolin and Blue Lake substations experienced a scheduled outage while Bonneville Power Administration completed critical upgrades to its transmission system near the Priest River Substation.

The daytime outage allowed BPA crews to safely replace high-voltage transmission equipment and perform essential work inside the substation—investments designed to improve the long-term reliability and stability of the local electric grid.

For Northern Lights, it also presented an opportunity.

Making the Most of a Rare Opportunity

NLI Board President Steve Elgar, middle, visits with members.

“We’ve scheduled outages in the past, with longer power outages taking place at night,” Northern Lights CEO Annie Terracciano says. “This was 2 full days of daytime outages needed for safety. We couldn’t recall another time when we needed to accommodate a schedule like this before.”

Rather than wait for transmission service to be restored, Northern Lights mobilized crews from across its service territory to tackle projects that would normally require additional planned outages.

Journeyman Linemen Jimmy Cupp and Tom Cox, who serve the Priest Lake area year-round, were joined by line crews from Sagle. Tree and vegetation management crews also converged on the area, creating a massive, coordinated maintenance effort.

Together, crews completed multiple upgrades:

  • 19 power poles were replaced, including 6 at the Priest Lake Substation, in preparation for the cooperative’s planned 2026 new substation project.
  • Maintenance and improvements were completed on 7 other poles, including replacing crossarms and insulators.
  • More than 40 hazard trees were cleared from in or near rights of way.

The work accomplished during the planned outage will reduce the need for future outages and improve service to members.

“All of this will have a tremendous impact on the future reliability for Priest Lake,” says Northern Lights Board Member Mike Dolan, who represents District 1, which includes the Priest Lake area.

Children get their faces painted, 1 of many family activities at the event. Photos courtesy of Northern Lights

Powering Challenging Landscapes

Northern Lights provides electric service to some of the most rural parts of North Idaho and Western Montana.

Surrounded by rugged mountains and dense forests, the Priest Lake area presents unique challenges for maintaining electric infrastructure. The surrounding forested areas contain between 76,800 and 134,400 trees per square mile, creating countless opportunities for trees and limbs to contact power lines during storms.

It’s no surprise that severe weather and vegetation remain the leading causes of outages. Even the local wildlife reminds crews they’re working in remote country. Priest Lake averages an estimated 3 to 4 bears per square mile.

Board member Mike Dolan, second from right, visits with members from Outlet Bay.

More Than Maintenance

As a locally owned electric cooperative, Northern Lights believes serving members means more than maintaining power lines.

With so many members without electricity during the scheduled outage, cooperative leaders saw an opportunity to bring the community together.

“It was Priest Lake’s turn for an ice cream social, and we thought, why not do it during the power outage and provide lunch, too?” Annie says.

Northern Lights Line Supervisor Marc Fischer, left, and Priest Lake-based Linemen Jimmy Cupp and Tom Cox pose with Willie Wiredhand at the Priest Lake picnic.

Members and guests gathered at Priest Lake Elementary School for a community picnic featuring lunch, activities for children, and plenty of huckleberry ice cream. The event turned an inconvenience into an opportunity for neighbors to connect with 1 another and the people who power their community.

Northern Lights hosts annual member events throughout its service territory, including its Annual Meeting and rotating community ice cream socials that bring board members, management and employees directly to the communities they serve.

Building for the Future

The work completed during the June outage also laid the groundwork for significant improvements coming to the Priest Lake electrical system.