Residents in sections of Quebec’s Pontiac region say they are dealing with an increase in power outages this winter. “Last month, it probably went off like 15, 20 times,” says Raymond Allard, a resident of L’Isle-aux-Allumettes. “Nobody knows why.” At Karl’s Bakery in L’Isle-aux-Allumettes, employee Raylene Savoie says the ongoing power outages are starting to have a significant impact on residents and local businesses. “It’s incredibly frustrating,” said Savoie. “I lose hours because the power’s out. [My boss] can’t employ me if he has to close for the day. That means he loses his income, I lose my income. We can lose product because of it.” MRC Pontiac Warden Jane Toller says the increase in outages is being attributed to a particularly brutal winter, with excess cold and heavy snow snapping trees onto power lines. “Our infrastructure, our transmission lines are over 100 years old. With the -32-degree weather that we’ve had recently, it makes the system very fragile,” Toller told CTV News Ottawa. “There’s no rhyme or reason to it right now,” Toller says of the ongoing outages. “The sun can be out, no wind, and all of a sudden the grid will go down.” In a bid to reduce strain on the Pontiac’s power grid, Hydro Quebec confirms it has begun calling residents, asking them to reduce power usage during peak periods of 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Hydro Quebec says this reduction in usage would include “lowering the heating by a few degrees and heating only occupied rooms,” and “limiting the use of energy‑intensive appliances such as the washer, dryer, or dishwasher.” It’s an ask that doesn’t sit well with Savoie, who says children and pets shouldn’t be subjected to colder rooms throughout the house. She adds that her power was involuntarily shut off by Hydro Quebec during these peak periods as well some days. “They turned off our power for 20 minutes at a time the other day, because they wanted people to reduce their usage between 6 and 8 in the morning. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work. Between 6 and 8 in the morning you have children getting up, you’re getting yourself ready for work, you have all of your appliances. And they did this up until 2 that afternoon.” In a statement Hydro Quebec wrote, “the alternating power supply was necessary because consumption risked exceeding the capacity of our local grid during peak periods amid several days of intense and sustained cold.” During this time of increased outages, Hydro Quebec also confirms that seven employees have been suspended for time theft while on the job and that an investigation into the misconduct is ongoing. Toller says the MRC Pontiac has more power outages than any of Quebec’s other 89 regional municipalities. There is a plan to expand and modernize Hydro Quebec’s infrastructure in the region, but construction isn’t planned for until 2028. “[Hydro Quebec] have in their budget $2 billion a year for infrastructure, so we’re very happy we’re going to have $150 million,” says Toller. “We just feel we can’t wait until 2028.” In a statement, Hydro Quebec said, “We are actively working to identify short‑term solutions to increase the supply capacity of the grid in the Pontiac region. In the short term, we have transferred part of Pontiac’s power supply to another distribution line with greater capacity. In the longer term, a large-scale project is planned to build two substations and a roughly 30‑km supply line.”
