Residents in sections of Quebec’s Pontiac region say they are dealing with an increase in power outages this winter.
“Last month, it probably went off like 15, 20 times,” says Raymond Allard, a resident of L’Isle-aux-Allumettes. “Nobody knows why.”
At Karl’s Bakery in L’Isle-aux-Allumettes, employee Raylene Savoie says the ongoing power outages are starting to have a significant impact on residents and local businesses.
“It’s incredibly frustrating,” said Savoie. “I lose hours because the power’s out. My boss can’t employ me if he has to close for the day. That means he loses his income, I lose my income. We can lose product because of it.”
MRC Pontiac Warden Jane Toller says the increase in outages is being attributed to a particularly brutal winter, with extreme cold and heavy snow snapping trees onto power lines.
“Our infrastructure, our transmission lines are over 100 years old. With the minus 32 degree weather that we’ve had recently, it makes the system very fragile,” Toller told CTV News Ottawa.
“There’s no rhyme or reason to it right now,” Toller said of the ongoing outages. “The sun can be out, no wind, and all of a sudden the grid will go down.”
In an effort to reduce strain on the Pontiac power grid, Hydro Quebec confirms it has begun calling residents and asking them to reduce power usage during peak periods between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., and again from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Hydro Quebec says this includes lowering heating by a few degrees, heating only occupied rooms, and limiting the use of energy-intensive appliances such as washers, dryers, and dishwashers.
It is a request that does not sit well with Savoie, who says children and pets should not be subjected to colder rooms throughout the house.
She adds that her power was involuntarily shut off by Hydro Quebec during these peak periods on some days.
“They turned off our power for 20 minutes at a time the other day because they wanted people to reduce their usage between 6 and 8 in the morning,” she said. “Unfortunately, that doesn’t work. Between 6 and 8 in the morning you have children getting up, you’re getting yourself ready for work, you have all of your appliances. And they did this up until 2 that afternoon.”
In a statement, Hydro Quebec said the alternating power supply was necessary because consumption risked exceeding the capacity of the local grid during several days of intense and sustained cold.
During this period of increased outages, Hydro Quebec also confirmed that seven employees have been suspended for time theft while on the job, and that an investigation into the misconduct is ongoing.
Toller says the MRC Pontiac experiences more power outages than any of Quebec’s other 89 regional municipalities. While there is a plan to expand and modernize Hydro Quebec’s infrastructure in the region, construction is not expected to begin until 2028.
“Hydro Quebec has two billion dollars a year in its budget for infrastructure, so we’re very happy we’re going to have 150 million,” said Toller. “We just feel we can’t wait until 2028.”
In a statement, Hydro Quebec said it is actively working to identify short-term solutions to increase supply capacity in the Pontiac region. In the short term, part of Pontiac’s power supply has been transferred to another distribution line with greater capacity. In the longer term, the utility plans to build two substations and a roughly 30 kilometre supply line.
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