A “suspicious” device found in Southwest Bend Monday afternoon has been identified, and it’s not a bomb after all. The object is used in the transmission of electricity, according to the Oregon State Police.

The device was reported at about 5:30 p.m. Monday by someone who said it looked like a pipe bomb, according to a press release issued that night by the Bend Police Department. It was sitting on the curb at the intersection of Brookswood Boulevard and Lodgepole Drive.

Bend officers weren’t able to determine whether the thing was dangerous, so they called in the Oregon State Police bomb squad in Salem, which arrived at 8:35 p.m. The bomb squad “rendered the device safe,” according to the Monday evening press release, and took it back to Salem for further examination.

It turns out the object isn’t a bomb after all. It’s a feed-through bushing used to run power between high-voltage lines, said state police Capt. Tim Fox Wednesday.

The bushing is a standard piece of equipment used on repair and maintenance tasks, according to Pacific Power spokesman Tom Gauntt. The company’s crews “were in the vicinity of that intersection the day before and worked into the evening hours,” Gauntt said, and may have left the device behind. Though Pacific Power crews clean up an area when a job is finished, he said, the task becomes more difficult after dark.