PowerStream is continuing power restoration efforts today to approximately 2,800 customers who remain without power due to last weekend’s ice storm. PowerStream has been successful in restoring power to over 95% of customers throughout the service territory since the height of the storm.
Crews are now focusing on small groupings and individual customers which has become very labour intensive and can take considerable time. In many areas where power has yet to be restored, many of the electricity supply lines are located in backyards where access is severely restricted.
PowerStream has been responding to this event with the assistance of neighbouring utilities (including; Newmarket Hydro, Collus PowerStream and Fortis), municipal forestry crews and significant contractor resources.
Customers who are currently without power could be impacted by a tree on a supply line in your immediate neighbourhood. We ask that you check to see if your neighbours have power which may indicate that there is additional tree clearing work to do on your street. If your home is the only house without electricity on the street, check the condition of the electrical service line outside of your home for damage. If you find the service wire down call us at 1-877-777-3810 to report the downed wire and please stay well back – always assume that every line is “live”, even if it is not jumping or sparking.
Customers who find damage to the service connection to their house should call a licensed electrical contractor to make repairs as soon as possible in order to avoid additional delays in restoring your power. Please visit http://www.esasafe.com/consumers/contractorlookup for a listing of licensed electrical contractors. Please visit the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) at http://esasafe.com for additional emergency information and winter storm tips.
Although PowerStream has been working around the clock and throughout the holidays, we strongly advise those customers without power to be prepared to sustain an extended outage over the next number of days and possibly into the weekend. We encourage you to contact family or friends for shelter or consider visiting a local warming station. Please contact your municipality for a list of local warming stations.
In order to avoid freezing pipes, customers are encouraged to open faucets to a slow drip or trickle as this will help keep water flowing through the lines and reduce the chance of freezing.
As we approach full restoration, PowerStream will continue communicating additional outage details to the media via news release and its @PowerStreamNews Twitter feed. The latest news releases can be found at http://blog.powerstream.ca/category/news-release/ .
Significant tree trimming and/or removal is being conducted throughout the service territory. The information is being shared by PowerStream’s Control Centre:
City of Vaughan – 580 customers remain affected
- Larger outages restored
- Multiple small clusters west of Hwy 400
- Forestry and line crews active
City of Markham – 1,700 customers remain affected
- General area bordered by Yonge to Don Mills and Hwy 407 to Steeles
- Forestry and line crews active
- General area bordered by Kennedy to Hwy 48 and Hwy 16th to Hwy 407
- Forestry and line crews active
Town of Richmond Hill – 550 customers remain affected
- General area bordered by Bayview to Hwy 404 and Bloomington to Stouffville
- Forestry and line crews active
Town of Aurora – less than 20 customers remain affected
Customers who are currently out of power are strongly encouraged to call PowerStream’s power outage line 24/7 at 1-877-777-3810 to report the details.
PowerStream’s Contact Centre will endeavour to be available 24/7 through the weekend at 1-877-963-6900. Restoring power safely is our number one priority, thank you for your continued patience.
