Region's electricity almost entirely restored

The lights are back on for virtually all Puget Sound homes, just in time for Christmas.

At the peak of the windstorm blackout, more than 1 million customers were left in the dark.

By Saturday evening, local utilities reported only a few scattered outages.

Fewer than 8,000 Puget Sound Energy (PSE) customers remained without electricity in outlying areas of north and east King County. Most of them were expected to have power back sometime today, said Dennis Smedsrud, PSE spokesman.

Just a dozen scattered Seattle City Light customers remained without electricity Saturday evening, said spokeswoman Suzanne Hartman.

Snohomish County Public Utility District, Tanner Electric and Tacoma Power reported full power restored.

There were some hiccups, causing new outages to customers. But most of those were short-lived.

A fire on a Tacoma Power transmission-line pole Saturday morning shut off power to about 13,000 customers in University Place, Fircrest and West Tacoma. Some were out for a few hours, said utility spokeswoman Sue Veseth.

About 30 homes in Seattle's Mount Baker neighborhood have had sporadic outages in the past couple of days unrelated to the windstorm, said Hartman.

The Red Cross closed six shelters it had opened in King and Kitsap counties to assist people who lost power during the Dec. 14-15 windstorm.

Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628 or jbrunner@seattletimes.com