BC Hydro customers in Vanderhoof and Fort St. James lost power multiple times last week.
Bob Gammer, manager, northern community relations for BC Hydro said power was interrupted five times over the past week in Vanderhoof and Fort St. James and the cause is still under investigation. However, he said that equipment malfunction could be the cause.
“A piece of equipment called a disconnect was mis-operating in our Glenannan Substation, west of Fraser Lake. The disconnect opened when it should not have and this action cut the flow of power on the transmission line that supplies electricity to all of Vanderhoof and Fort St. James,” Gammer said.
The remote operation of the disconnect has been temporarily disabled and it is now under manual control to prevent a repeat occurrence to customers, he added.
Power was interrupted on June 1 for 23 minutes, June 3 for three minutes and three times on the morning of June 4 for 19 minutes, Gammer said.
There was a power outage in Fort St. James on June 2 due to an unrelated incident. Gammer said a crow had contacted equipment in the BC Hydro substation in the District. Residents lost power for over 2 hours and it was restored a little after 7 pm, Gammer said.
Check the outage map to see if BC Hydro knows that your power is out. If not, call 1 800 BCHYDRO (1 800 224 9376) or *HYDRO (*49376) on your mobile phone to report it.
READ MORE: Update: Vanderhoof lost power for five hours on Saturday
Aman Parhar
Editor, Vanderhoof Omineca Express
aman.parhar@ominecaexpress.com
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