Summerside Electric had to start its generators again to preserve supply Monday night

Summerside Electric had to power up its own diesel generators again Monday night, after a warning from Maritime Electric that the utility didn't have enough power to supply the city. 

That happened at about 8 p.m. Monday night. 

J.P. Desrosiers, the city's deputy chief administrative officer, says the decision was made "quite quickly" to power up the backup generators to support Maritime Electric's need for more power.  

"We had to curtail some of our usage for about an hour during peak demand, which required us to fire our generators for that hourlong period," said Desrosiers.     

P.E.I.'s second-biggest city, which operates its own utility as Summerside Electric, has faced significant power disruptions throughout the month of February. While the city generates about 60 per cent of its electricity through renewable sources like solar and wind, it depends on Maritime Electric's transmission grid for power Summerside buys from New Brunswick.

'That number continues to grow'

This is all connected to a failure at Maritime Electric's Sherbrooke substation, located just north of the city. Last month, Maritime Electric installed a mobile transformer brought in from Newfoundland at the substation to help stabilize the situation. 

But that is only a temporary solution. 

Desrosiers said the mobile transformer has helped, but it costs thousands of dollars every time the city has to fire up one of its backup generators.

To date, the power issue has cost the city about $450,000 — money Desrosiers said the city has not budgeted for.

"That number continues to grow as we continue to be required, where possible — or where needed, I should say — to run our diesel-powered generators to support the load that's not able to be brought to us through the transmission lines," he said. 

"Those expenses are not something that we tend to budget for and our utility is not designed for." 

Would like to 'rest a little easier'

Desrosiers said the city hasn't determined how it will cover those costs, but he hopes it will not have to be passed on to residents. In good times, he said, the city uses any profits from the utility for other city projects, so those projects might suffer in the future. 

CBC News reached out to Maritime Electric about the status of repairs at the Sherbrooke substation, but a company representative said it could not provide an update on that matter Tuesday. 

Desrosiers said his utility staff are in constant contact with Maritime Electric, but they have not received any information on when a permanent fix might happen.

"I think everyone would rest a little easier if we had more information on that," he said.