Increased air conditioning use likely to blame for hydro outage in Ottawa's west end, utility says
Residents turning up the air conditioners on the hottest June 1 in Ottawa history likely caused hydro systems to overload, knocking out power to customers in the west end, Hydro Ottawa says.
Thousands of residents and businesses spent several hours in the dark and without air conditioning as the temperature hit 35 C Thursday evening.
Hydro Ottawa reported 8,500 customers in Kanata South, Kanata North, Stittsville and West Carleton-March lost power just before 6 p.m. Thursday.
Hydro was fully restored to all customers overnight.
The utility says the outage was due to some stations in the area becoming overloaded.
"We can speculate at the moment due to increased AC use yesterday," Hydro Ottawa said on Twitter Friday morning.
Hydro Ottawa said Thursday night that the outage was "likely due to the heat and AC being on."
In a statement to CTV News Ottawa on Friday, Hydro Ottawa says strain on the system can cause power outages.
"While Hydro Ottawa’s distribution system is built with sufficient capacity to accommodate summer peak loads, sometimes strain on the system can happen as a result of a sudden increased demand, resulting in outages," the utility said. "While this weather makes our system work harder, we are not experiencing any problems related to the peak demand."
The temperature hit 35.1 C in Ottawa on Thursday, the warmest temperature recorded in Ottawa on June 1.
A heat warning remains in effect for the city of Ottawa, with relief from the warm temperatures not expected until the weekend.
Hydro Ottawa offers the following tips to reduce demand on the system:
- Setting air conditioners to 26 C or higher, or use fans as an alternative
- Turning off unnecessary lights and appliances
- Closing curtains and blinds to keep out the sun and retain cooler air inside
- Delaying the use of dishwashers, washers, dryers and pool pumps until after 8:00 p.m.
With files from CTV News Ottawa's Natalie van Rooy
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
Investigators have finally revealed the identity of an unknown victim nicknamed 'Midtown Jane Doe,' who was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City two decades ago.