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INDOOR POT GROWS STRAINING GRID, OREGON UTILITY SAYS

SALEM, Ore.  ( AP ) - Indoor growing operations for legal marijuana businesses are causing problems for Oregon's electrical grid, according to officials from an electrical-utility company.

Pacific Power said Wednesday that grow operations have taken grids above capacity, blowing out seven transformers since July and causing outages and equipment damage, reported The Statesman Journal.

The problems are a remnant of pot's black-market past, when substandard electrical work powered the lights at growing sites.

Portland General Electric has had similar problems, according to spokesman Steve Corson.  He said anecdotal reports from PGE crews show about 10 percent of their transformer blowouts are from growing operations, with about 400 blowouts each year.

To curb the problem, utility companies are asking marijuana growers to talk to power providers before starting home or commercial operations to make sure electrical systems are operating correctly.

Just one or two in-house growing operations on a circuit could overload the local grid and cause an outage, says Pacific Power spokesman Tom Gauntt.

Even a small operation with four plants and standard lights "is like hooking up 29 refrigerators that run 24/7," according to Pacific Power safety director Roger Blank.

Some growers, like Shango Premium Cannabis owner Shane McKee, have decided not to take any chances.  He keeps a fulltime electrician on his staff and regularly speaks with his utility company and an electric engineer.