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More frequent extreme weather is bound to cause customers to lose power for days, say Hydro Ottawa executives, who are still working on a $500-million plan to fortify infrastructure by burying lines.
Early last year a derecho wind storm tore through Ottawa, downing more than 500 hydro poles and leaving some areas without power for nearly two weeks.
CEO Bryce Conrad said Hydro Ottawa is doing all it can to “harden the infrastructure” but doesn’t believe the current situation is weak.
“The derecho is 195 km/h winds. There’s nothing that withstands that,” Conrad told reporters. “That’s not fragility. That’s just God kicking our ass.”
Despite having no weather expertise, Conrad felt confident predicting there will be more multi-day outages: “I guarantee you. It’s just a matter of time.”
Conrad called on homeowners to be “resilient” enough to survive 72 hours without help.
A report solicited by the utility last year identified a half-billion-dollar plan to bury some wires underground. It’ll be part of Hydro Ottawa’s next rate application.
Still no provincial cleanup funding
Conrad said the nearly $25-million cleanup cost for the devastating windstorm caught them off-guard — so did the province’s refusal to pay up.
“They, in my estimation, copped out a bit by saying that you could put it on the rate base,” Jim Durrell, the outgoing chair of Hydro Ottawa’s board, told councillors. “Both the board and management felt that it would be inappropriate to put the additional dollars on the rate base.”
The cost hurt their bottom line and made them cut the dividend paid to the city by more than $3 million, to $20 million.
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said he continues to lobby the Ontario energy minister for help, saying he’s “still hopeful that there will be some help from the provincial government.”
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