Re: Less than 5,000 customers remain without power this evening
Power has been restored to an additional 17,000 customers. As of 8:30 p.m. there are approximately 5,000 customers without power. In total, we have restored more than 60,000 customers since yesterday.
While the numbers continue to decrease, the situation does remain fluid and dynamic. Through the course of the day our crews were faced with difficult working conditions including high winds reaching close to 60 km/h which caused additional trees and branches to fall on our lines. As we transitioned into the smaller outages we found additional damage to our equipment which impacted the restoration process. Some of
the larger outages we were hoping to power up today have been delayed. Our crews continue to work around the clock to address each and every outage. Our goal of having everyone’s power restored by
the end of day on Saturday remains.
For this event, we have over 225 internal and external resources working to repair damages caused by the storm, which represents the second highest resourcing in our history. This is second only to last year’s
Derecho event in May. This extended crew includes Hydro Ottawa employees,contractors and partners from Holland, K-Line, Erth Power, London Hydro, Burlington Hydro, Bradley Kelly, L&B, Teraflex, Davey,
Asplundh and City of Ottawa Forestry. The full complement of resources will remain on task until we have fully restored power to our customers.
This evening, we are focused on restoring the following communities:
● Edwards - Carlsbad Springs
● Riverside South - Leitrim
● Westboro
● Carleton Heights - Rideauview
● Casselman
● Old Barrhaven West
● Skyline - Fisher Heights
● Laurentian
● Bells Corners
● Manotick
● Braemar Park - Bel Air Heights
● Copeland Park
● Cityview - Crestview - Meadowlands
● Bridlewood - Emerald Meadows
● Iris - Queensway Terrance South
● Whitehaven - Queensway Terrace North
● Richmond
● Parkwood Hills - Stewart Farm
● Carlingwood West - Glabar Park -
McKellar Heights
● Borden
● Farm - Fisher Glen
Please note, this is not an exhaustive list and we have crews and contractors working across the service territory to remove downed infrastructure and restore power. Moreover, as crews finish jobs they are being
immediately dispatched to subsequent events. I completely understand and appreciate how frustrating it can be to be without power for a prolonged period of time. It remains absolutely imperative that the crews be left alone to work safely and securely.
The crews are fully trained to deal with the hazards of the job. The general public is not. To that end, I would ask that you respect the perimeters that are set around job sites and allow the crews to work. Over
the past 48 hours, we have had situations where frustrated customers took it upon themselves to engage with our crews. As an employer, we can not tolerate abusive or aggressive behaviour towards our staff.
From a restoration perspective, this behaviour will simply delay getting the power back on within your communities as the impacted crews will be deployed to another location. Again, we understand how very
frustrating this situation is but would simply ask for your patience, support and collaboration as the crews fully restore power.
Tomorrow, we will continue on the remaining outages and transition to addressing individual homes and businesses, including those with damage to their personal electrical equipment which may require
Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) permitting. Damaged customer-owned electrical equipment, such as the meter mast and wires connecting directly to the house, are the responsibility of homeowners’ to fix. If this is the case for some of your constituents, they will need to contact a qualified electrical contractor to make repairs before Hydro Ottawa is able to reconnect power. These customer-owned equipment issues require extra care and communication, as many homeowners are not aware of their individual responsibilities.
Until all of our customers are restored, please continue to encourage residents to visit our Storm Centre page, outage map, and to follow our updates on social media. We will continue to leverage these channels
until this event is finally and clearly over. As per my previous correspondence, estimated times of restoration are best efforts to gauge a time of restoration and should be treated as such. As the crews begin to work on any given site, they may find additional damage to the infrastructure which may delay the restoration times.
Lastly, thank you for encouraging customers to report outages or downed power lines through the proper channels: calling our 24/7 outage hotline at 613 738-0188 or by submitting a report online through their
MyAccount customer portal. This process allows for the call to be entered directly into our system and dispatched immediately.
Once again, thank you for your ongoing support throughout this event, which has caused a trail of destruction for us, as well as our counterparts at Hydro One and Hydro-Québec.
Sincerely,
Bryce Conrad
President and Chief Executive Officer/Président et chef de la direction, Hydro Ottawa
