Local officials meet with Hydro-Quebec, suggest solutions to Upper Pontiac outages

Local officials meet with Hydro-Quebec, suggest solutions to Upper Pontiac outages

Earlier this week, a delegation of local officials met with representatives of Hydro-Quebec to discuss the electrical situation in the Upper Pontiac, which has been plagued with frequent outages for years.

The delegation was made up of local mayors, Pontiac MNA André Fortin as well as municipal and MRC staff, while the utility was represented by two communications staffers and two technical experts.

L’Isle-aux-Allumettes Mayor Corey Spence gave some background on the situation that he estimates impacts around 3,400 customers in the municipalities that make up the region: Sheenboro, Chichester, L’Isle-aux-Allumettes, Waltham and portions of Mansfield-et-Pontefract. He said that much of the problems arise from the odd electrical distribution set up that the region has, where they are synchronized with the Ontario system, but can be supplied from Quebec when needed. The distance between the closest substation (Cadieux) and the upper reaches of the region makes for inconsistent service at best.

In a statement published Wednesday, Hydro-Quebec representative Marie-Lou St-Onge blamed the outages in June on falling vegetation during two storm cells, and highlighted the intensification of their vegetation control efforts starting last year. However, she noted that when the distribution lines in the area are synchronized with the Quebec grid, they are more vulnerable to these kinds of interruptions.

Spence said that local resident Kevin Vickers, offered some ideas about technical solutions to the engineers present from Hydro-Quebec, and they agreed to look into these options and reconvene later this year to discuss their research.

Another issue that Spence raised was the lack of accurate and timely information from Hydro-Quebec staff, which aggravates an already frustrating situation for residents and business owners.