Cut-off current in the full-glacial cold: Hydro explains

Screenshots, TVA Gatineau-ottawa

QMI agency

Friday, December 15, 2017 09:30

UPDATE
Friday, December 15, 2017 09:32

Look at this article

More than 300 customers of Hydro-Québec in the Outaouais region have been deprived of electricity for several hours on Thursday, in the freezing cold, but the society of State considers that she acted as best she could considering all the factors involved.

Qualified as non-urgent, these works were, however, absolutely be made before the big winter cold”, first held to clarify Marc-Antoine Pouliot, a spokesman for Hydro Quebec in the Morning.

“If we don’t, the network will be at risk during the winter, and there will be potentially more customers fault, and more a long time,” he continued.

Mr. Pouliot indicates that the mercury descended lower than was originally anticipated and this has caused an unpleasant situation for our clients, we are well aware”.

The society of State allows for service interruptions when the temperature is above -15 degrees Celsius, a threshold established scientifically. “At -15, when there is an interruption, and that there was no heating, the buildings will keep their heat during the day,” he explained.

In this case, the customers affected by the outage have been notified more than 48 hours in advance so that they can adjust. And if Hydro had deferred operations in the morning, “the businesses, the industries in the area, the residents who were organized as a function of our notice of 48 hours would have had to do the same a few days later”.

Hydro-Québec grieves this situation, says the spokesperson. “If it was to do over again, we would run it maybe differently, but I just want to explain that it is composed with variables not obvious and we try to maintain a balance,” said Mr. Pouliot.