Amherstburg council seeks answers from Hydro One after repeated power flickers frustrate residents

Amherstburg is calling for a meeting with Hydro One after receiving multiple complaints about power flickers. CTV Windsor’s Chris Campbell reports.

Amherstburg town council is pressing Hydro One for answers after residents across the community reported frequent power flickers and outages they say have become a regular part of daily life.

Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb said complaints have been piling up for years, but recent feedback from residents prompted council to take formal action.

“The power has been flicking on and off as long as I can remember,” Gibb said in an interview.

Council recently passed a notice of motion requesting explanations from the utility after residents — particularly in the Kingsbridge subdivision — reported repeated disruptions. Gibb said some residents there experienced between 12 and 15 major power flickers over a three-day period.

“So, residents from that area reached out to council, and I put the notice motion out there to basically ask Hydro One what’s going on,” he said.

“What are you doing to avoid this? What are you doing to keep this from happening?”

Gibb said council has since heard back from Hydro One and that a phone meeting with company officials is scheduled for Wednesday, allowing councillors to ask questions directly.

“I did get an email from one of their municipal representatives, and we’ve got a phone call scheduled,” he explained.

“This will be something that obviously we’ll want all of council to be able to ask their questions.”

Residents said the flickers are more than just an inconvenience.

Downtown Espresso Cafe barista Lisa Dennis said outages are common both at work and at home.

“It goes out quite a bit,” Dennis said.

“I’ve been through a few appliances at home.”

At the cafe, even a brief blink can cause major disruptions.

“If it goes out, it puts a lot of machines out that takes 15 minutes or so to come back on,” she said.

“If you get three or four in the morning, then yeah, you’re in trouble.”

Gibb said he’s heard similar concerns from business owners across town, noting short flickers can shut down point-of-sale systems and computers.

“It’s not just an irritation,” he said.

“It’s costing people money.”

Residents interviewed echoed the frustration.

“It regularly happens here — weekly,” said Bob Parks.

“Your internet goes off, and you have to wait for it to come back on again. It’s a constant thing.”

April Cahill said the unpredictability makes it difficult to know when power will stay on.

“Sometimes it goes off and on, off and on, and you’re like, okay, I’m not setting the clocks again until it gets steady,” she said.

Others said the issue is influencing decisions about staying in the community.

“I’m just moving back to Ottawa,” said Karl Clifford.

“They can’t even keep the power on in this little town.”

Gibb said the issue may extend beyond Amherstburg, noting he’s heard from residents in other Windsor-Essex communities.

“I think it could be a Windsor-Essex issue,” he said.

He added Amherstburg is uniquely situated, with part of the town serviced by Essex Powerlines Corporation and another by Hydro One.

“In our discussions with Essex Power, they’re telling us about 98 per cent of their outages are because of Hydro One’s supply,” Gibb said.

With development and population growth expected, council wants reassurance that the electrical infrastructure is able to keep up.

“Everybody wants to build new homes, and we want new growth in the area,” Gibb said.

“So, we want to ask — is this power grid ready for it?”

In a statement to CTV News, Hydro One said it is aware of reported flickering and outages in Amherstburg and is working closely with town officials to improve reliability for customers. The utility said it has completed patrols of powerlines in response to the complaints, cleared vegetation that could come into contact with electricity equipment, and will continue investigating to improve service.

Hydro One encouraged customers to report outages, noting that customer reports help identify causes.

Council is expected to raise resident concerns directly with Hydro One officials during the scheduled call.