Power Outages in Stittsville

February 10, 2013

Power Outages

Many residents were faced with a power outage on January 31st. Below is a letter issued from Hydro Ottawa summarizing further details on this outage:

 

Hydro OttawaPlease continue to report any future power outages at your home to Hydro Ottawa staff using their Power Outage Message and Reporting phone number of 613-738-0188. When outages are ongoing and as more information comes in, staff updates this Hydro Ottawa Outage Message Reporting phone number. Residents can get those updates by calling that same number, 613-738-0188.

January 24, 2011

New Update! Hydro Ottawa - Stittsville Information Session

January, 2011

Update - Hydro Ottawa open house

After many discussions with representatives with Hydro Ottawa, it is a positive and encouraging step that the company is hosting an open house on Monday, January 24th in Hall A located inside the Goulbourn Recreation Complex at 1500 Shea Road.

With the frequency of power outages that have been affecting our community, this is an opportunity to ask questions and hear what Hydro Ottawa has to stay regarding plans for improved reliability in Stittsville.

We have been working at finding a solution to these outages and this open house is a chance to learn and see what is being planned in your community. Your attendance is crucial.  More information...

November 19, 2010

On November 17, power outages throughout the day impacted close to 6,000 homes.
After speaking with representatives from Hydro Ottawa on the cause of the outages, they have updated me on what happened.

The main cause of the outage was due to a broken insulator on Hydro One’s A9M5 circuit out of their South March Station. A9M5 circuit is the only circuit that feeds into the Alexander Substation.

At 11:32 am, Hydro One Circuit A9M5 auto-reclosed , which caused our RX2010 (Alex F3 circuit) recloser to auto. Crews patrolled the Alex F3 circuit and nothing was found. Hydro One did not call the control room to report that they had an Auto-Reclose on their A9M5 circuit of their South March Station.

At 3:10 pm, Hydro One Circuit A9M5 auto-reclosed and locked out. Hydro One called the Hydro Ottawa Control room notified them of this and requested that they close the circuit.

At 3:15 pm - Hydro One closed in the circuit (A9M5) picking up all of Hydro Ottawa customers along with theirs.

At 3:20 pm Hydro One Circuit A9M5 auto-reclosed and locked out. Hydro One called the Hydro Ottawa Control room about this and reported that they were sending a crew to investigate. Hydro Ottawa notified them about a call reporting that there was a large flash and smoke coming from just outside the Alexander substation.

At 5:20 pm Hydro Ottawa crews performed switching to pick up all the Alex F3 load from the Bridlewood Station.

At 5:49 pm Hydro Ottawa performed switching to pick up all the Alex F2 load from the Bridlewood Station

At 6:24 pm Hydro One energized their A9M5 circuit picking up their customers that were fed from the Alexander substation

At 6:49 pm Hydro Ottawa crews restored the Alex F2 & F3 load to normal supplies.

While I understand the frustration due to the frequency of these outages, I can assure you that Hydro Ottawa continues to actively take steps to enhance reliability in Stittsville. For example, new technologies have been installed to better control and monitor power distribution in Stittsville. They have also replaced much of the older equipment and provided more back-up supply to the entire Stittsville area.

Additional improvements to their system in Stittsville will be underway in 2011 and 2012. By 2013, a new transformer station will be in operation to serve Ottawa West, including Stittsville. This work continues to considerably enhance the reliability in Stittsville.

Hydro Ottawa staff is advising that if you experience a power outage in the future, to please call their power outage line at 613-738-0188 to report the outage or to obtain information or updates on the outages that may be underway. Their website also provides "outage reports", which are updated daily so you can find out why an outage occurred the next day.

As a company that delivers an important service to the public, nothing is more critical to Hydro Ottawa's success than providing reliable service and investing for the future. Please rest assured that they are committed to meeting these vital objectives to the benefit of our customers in Stittsville.

As we work towards a permanent solution, I ask for your patience and understanding.

November 4 , 2010

I do have an update from Bill Bennett, Director, Distribution Asset Management with Hydro Ottawa, regarding inquiries about the power outage in Stittsville on November 1st. Senior Hydro Ottawa staff are certainly aware and regret the inconvenience. They have provided information to address what happened on Monday and to briefly recap their plans for Stittsville, which Hydro Ottawa has identified as a priority area for system improvements.

The outage on November 1st occurred when a construction crew, not working for Hydro Ottawa, accidentally hit the overhead power line and disconnected it. A similar incident, with the same company, took place two weeks ago and have been in discussions with the construction company about more stringent precautions to help ensure that this does not happen again. Hydro Ottawa has also taken the extraordinary measure to flag this location as well. As part of the restoration process the circuit was tried four times, which would cause your blinking lights, before the power was permanently restored.

Although this latest outage was beyond their control, Hydro Ottawa are and continue to actively take steps to enhance reliability in your area. For example, new technologies have been installed to better control and monitor power distribution in Stittsville. They have also replaced much of the older equipment and provided more back-up supply to the entire Stittsville area. Additional improvements to their system in Stittsville will be underway in 2011 and 2012. By 2013, a new transformer station will be in operation to serve Ottawa West, including Stittsville. This work continues to considerably enhance the robustness and reliability of their system in Stittsville.

Hydro Ottawa staff are advising that should you experience a power outage in the future, to please call their power outage line at 613-738-0188 to report the outage or to obtain information/updates on the outages that may be underway. Their website also provides “outage reports”, which are updated daily so you can find out why an outage occurred the next day .

http://www.hydroottawa.com/newsevents/outage.cfm?TEMPLATE_ID=51&LANG=E

As a company that delivers an important service to the public, nothing is more critical to Hydro Ottawa’s success than providing reliable service and investing for the future. Please rest assured that they are committed to meeting these vital objectives to the benefit of our customers in Stittsville.
I certainly share your frustrations and concerns. I will continue to work with senior Hydro Ottawa staff on this issue.

July 13, 2010

Hydro Ottawa

Over the past number of years residents in the area are experiencing increased power disruptions with Hydro Ottawa service in Stittsville. I encourage you to review the below information for updates on the situation.

With respect to underground wiring in the community, it is important to note that Hydro Ottawa’s standard is to install above ground lines on arterial and collector roads. Hydro Ottawa has established these standards based on the funds that they have available made by user fees paid by hydro customers. As a regulated utility, Hydro Ottawa is expected to keep rates as low as possible for their customers, which means they must make decisions on how they invest in their infrastructure. Hydro Ottawa has advised that the cost of underground installation is typically 5 to 10 times more expensive than overhead lines, depending on a number of factors such as location and number of service installations. I am continuing to work with the City, Hydro Ottawa and the development community on the Underground Wiring Steering Committee to restrict the introduction of new overhead wiring in established communities.

For updates and to report outages please call Hydro Ottawa Power Outage Reporting and Information at 613-738-0188.

You can also contact Hydro Ottawa Customer Service at 613-738-6400 or customerservice@hydroottawa.com .

If you have experienced any damage to home appliances by a power outage, please contact Hydro Ottawa to give them the opportunity to have staff respond to you directly. Please contact Hydro Ottawa Claims at claims@hydroottawa.com.

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