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.
L’Isle-aux-Allumettes Mayor Corey Spence gave some background on the situation that he estimates impacts around 3,400 customers in the five municipalities that make up the region. He said that much of the problems arise from the odd electrical distribution set up in the region, 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, 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.
