Charles
  In a really big storm public power utilities rely on their Mutual Aid Agreements with the the 62 other public power systems to borrow crews.  Typically they don't call on the contract crews PSE depends on (PSE outsourced to contractors most their line work in 2006) finding their fellow public power crews less expensive and more reliable.  PSE Kitsap has the worst reliability of any of the 8 countys PSE serves, and the company has 2 and 1/2 times as many outages and 5 times as much outage time per year as comparable public systems like Snohomish PUD and Pen Light in Gig Harbor.   See PSE's own 2016 Reliability Report and SnoPUD's report on the Island Power web site.