BAKER CITY — Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative officials are tracking recent reports of people attacking and damaging power substations, including at least four episodes in Oregon and western Washington since late November.

“We’re monitoring the situation,” Joe Hathaway, OTEC’s communications manager, said on Thursday morning, Dec. 8.

Hathaway said OTEC, which has a service area including parts of Baker, Union, Grant and Harney counties, has not had any recent intentional damage to its substations.

He said the cooperative has procedures in place to protect substations, but for security reasons he said he can’t divulge any details.

For the same reason, Hathaway declined to say how many substations OTEC owns.

Substations are sites that include switches and transformers that reduce the higher voltage of transmission lines so the power can be sent through distribution lines to homes and businesses.

Many substations are within towns, but some are in more remote areas.

Hathaway said protecting substations and other equipment, and thus OTEC’s members and employees, is the top priority for the cooperative, which has its headquarters in Baker City.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reported this week that Portland General Electric, the Bonneville Power Administration and Puget Sound Energy each confirmed separate attacks on electrical substations they manage in Oregon and Washington. Attackers used firearms in at least some of the incidents in both states, and some power customers in Oregon experienced service disruption as a result of an attack.

The BPA announced on Thursday afternoon, Dec. 8, that it is seeking tips about damage of equipment at a substation in Clackamas.

That incident happened early on Thanksgiving, Nov. 24.

“We were fortunate to avoid any power supply disruption, which would have jeopardized public safety, increased financial damages and presented challenges to the community on a holiday,” John Lahti, BPA’s transmission vice president of field services, said in a press release.

BPA owns more than 200 substations in the region.