Storm Arthur's cost for NB Power estimated at $23M

NB Power is putting a $23-million price tag on the cost of post-tropical storm Arthur, making it the most costly power disruption in the utility's history.

The blackouts caused by Arthur as it swept through the province on July 5 affected a record 195,000 NB Power customers. Several thousand homes and businesses were without service for a week or more as Arthur toppled thousands of trees with 100 km/h wind gusts and 143 millimetres of rain in some areas.

The maximum number of homes and businesses without electricity at any one time peaked at about 140,000.

"Thousands of large trees fell on power lines and poles and damaged NB Power's transmission and distribution system, which includes high-voltage lines that carry electricity between communities and the secondary lines that supply homes and businesses," states NB Power in its quarterly report.

"The heavy rain and high water level in the river blocked and destroyed roads.

"The severity and complexity of damage meant repairs took much longer in many cases."

Fredericton was the hardest hit area, with about 56,000 customers affected, leaving most of the capital city area in the dark. Rothesay, St. Stephen, Woodstock and Miramichi areas were also hard-hit.

The outages affected approximately 60 per cent of NB Power's customer base. More than 75,000 customers were affected by multiple outages.

The only previous cost estimate by NB Power came during the cleanup, when utility president and CEO Gaetan Thomas said he expected Arthur's cost would meet or exceed the $12-million cost of a 12-day ice storm in December 2013.

NB Power had more than 300 crews working in the province to restore electricity in the days after Arthur.

In the Fredericton area alone, more than 200 utility poles had to be repaired. It takes about six hours for a crew to replace a broken pole with the new one.

NB Power released the $23-million damage estimate Monday as part of its second quarter financial forecast.

The report states all customers who could accept power were restored by July 14 and 80 per cent of those who lost service were restored within five days of Arthur.

Despite Arthur's cost, lower than expected hydro flows and a planned outage at the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station during the first quarter, NB Power continues to forecast finishing the fiscal year with a surplus, although no estimate is stated.