Power outages for residents in a small village west of Kingston, Ont., are becoming the new normal.
Residents in the community of Bath say since last fall, they have been experiencing frequent and unexplained losses of power.
Now, after a few months of thinking things were back to normal, those in the community say those issues are back, and they are getting tired of it.
“It’s just that it’s happening again, and it’s frustrating,” says Mary Willing, Bath resident.
“Just recently, on this past weekend, there was a power outage on Sunday, and then one on Monday, and it was shorter, and then yesterday, and I was only affected by the Monday and Wednesday one.”
With the province experiencing some extreme heat over the last few weeks and moving into the colder months, residents are eager to see the problem fixed.
Michael Cox, co-owner of 360 Castaways, a local ice cream shop owner, says the multiple outages are not good for business.
“As soon as we get an outage, I have to run to the garage and get some cords out and plug in my generator and get my generator running,” Cox says.
360 Castaway specializes in many things, but mainly ice cream, which makes the issues with the power outages, which come without warning, all the more frustrating.
Cox tells Global News the outages just aren’t right.
“I pay delivery for hydro, and I pay line drop, and I pay premium for a business,” he says.
“If I was giving people melted ice cream and saying that’s the way it is, I don’t think that they’d come back.”
Both Cox and Willing are attributing the issues to an outdated power grid and equipment.
“Some of the equipment in this area must still need replacing, must still need maintenance or something. It just seems to blow really easily compared to other places,” Willing says.
Addressing questions about the outages, Hydro One says the most recent are due to an equipment failure, impacting over 2,000 people.
“We know how difficult it is to be without power, especially during hot weather, and knowing the issues faced in Bath, we had crews at the ready to resolve outages as quickly and safely as possible,” the power company said in a statement.
Hydro One says it is “taking active steps in Bath using smart switches and new technology to upgrade equipment to ensure reliability and to keep our customers comfortable.
“We are committed to making investments to improve and modernize the resiliency of our electricity system to prevent these disruptions to power.”
— with files from Ryan Peddigrew, Global News
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