Um…I used to work for a large electrical utility as a lineman. It’s pure incompetence that they’re disrupting other people when attempting to restore that area of the neighborhood. They’re executing short-cuts in order to restore service. They’re purposely de-energizing the entire town or at least portions of it rather than transition it in a non-disruptive manner. The sad part is that there is that the average residential and business will suffer some amount of damaged electronics or at least a shortened lifespan of that equipment as a result of rapid energizing and de-energizing. While some people have UPS units as well as surge protectors, it still isn’t good enough.

The reason that dog died due to an energized surface is because Seattle Power wrote a RFP to outsource their inspections and REMOVED the provision that required logging of street lights and other external facing receptacles to save money. They have a culture of haste and doing things on the cheap.