Hundreds of residents at NDG apartment complex without adequate heating

About 250 apartment units on Sherbrooke Street West in NDG, between Benny Avenue and Cavendish Boulevard, have had inadequate heating since sometime Thursday.

As the mercury dropped below -20 C degrees on Friday, residents were complaining that the situation was intolerable.

Resident Bob Jones woke up to a frigid 13 degrees in his bedroom Friday morning.

When he contacted management, Jones says he was told it was a hydro problem, even though he does have electricity.

“And I have hot water too, and it’s hot water that goes through the rads,” said Jones, who has lived in the apartment for the past decade. “So I really don’t get it.”

Jones says he’s disappointed with how building management has dealt with tenants during the situation.

“No communication from the office whatsoever,” Jones told Global News.

Global News reached out to the building managers, who were not available for an on-camera interview, but said that the problem is a power deficiency which caused equipment to break.

They said this is the second time this year that this has happened, pointing fingers at Hydro-Quebec.

“Our customer service received a call at 7 a.m. this morning regarding the 600-volt electrical connection of the building. At 10 a.m., a team from Hydro-Québec was on site and the power was restored quickly,” Hydro-Québec responded.

But on Friday afternoon, the thermometer in Jones’ apartment still read 59 degrees Fahrenheit — or 15 degrees Celsius.

Amid the finger-pointing, Jones just hopes his heating gets back to normal before the long weekend.

“If this is going to continue past tonight or past supper-time, they’re going have to figure out a way — bus people to an arena that’s heated or provide everyone with heaters,” Jones said.