PSE reminds everyone to call before you dig
In Gov. GregoireÂ’s proclamation, residents and excavators are encouraged to call the 811 service two business days before digging to help avoid potential hazards with striking or damaging underground utility lines.
“Greater public awareness about the need to ‘call before you dig’ has effectively reduced the number of incidents damaging our underground electric and natural gas lines and avoided the possibility of serious injury and costly repairs,” said Sue McLain, PSE senior vice president of operations. “We encourage residents and excavators to call 811 prior to starting any digging project. Any scratch, dent or gouge to a natural gas pipe or nick to an underground electric line could become a safety hazard and eventually ends up costing time and money to repair.”
PSEÂ’s statistics reveal that more than onetenth of the overall damages to its underground natural gas lines and electric cable in the utilityÂ’s 11county service area in 2009 were caused by residents, contractors and other excavators who failed to ensure that underground utility lines were properly marked. Last year, PSE experienced more than 1,000 incidents related to accidental digups of PSEÂ’s 25,000 miles of underground natural gas lines and about 400 incidents to the utilityÂ’s 9,960 miles of buried power lines.
Washington state law requires all digging projects on private, public and commercial property to have utilities marked before the start of digging to prevent serious injuries or costly property damage.
PSE advises anyone who may have damaged natural gas pipes or electric systems, or who smells the odor of natural gas, to take these steps:
• Quickly move a safe distance from the damaged line.
• Call 911 after reaching a safe distance.
• Report the damage to PSE at 18882255773.
For more information about “Call Before You Dig,” visit www.call811.com.
Related News

California's future with income-based flat-fee utility bills is getting closer
SAN FRANCISCO - Electricity bills in California are likely to change dramatically in 2026.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is in the midst of an unprecedented overhaul of the way most of the state’s residents pay for electricity.
Utility bills currently rely on a use-more pay-more system, where bills are directly tied to how much electricity a resident consumes.
California lawmakers are asking regulators to take a different approach. Some of the bill will pay for the kilowatt hours a customer uses and a monthly fixed fee will help pay for expenses to maintain the electric grid: the poles, the substations, the…