Summerside warns of rolling blackouts as Maritime Electric calls on people to cut power use across P.E.I.

The City of Summerside says its municipally owned power utility might have to trigger rotating blackouts Monday evening after thousands lost electricity across western P.E.I. earlier in the day, apparently due to damage at Maritime Electric's Sherbrooke substation. 

"As we continue to manage the electricity interruption, the City of Summerside's utility may need to begin a circuit rotation process to shed power loads throughout the evening and until reliable power is secured from the Maritime Electric substation," the city said in a news release just after 4 p.m. AT. 

"This process will take place on a rotational basis to distribute available power as efficiently as possible. If your power goes out, please expect it to remain off for approximately three hours before being restored."

Meanwhile, Maritime Electric was asking all of its Prince Edward Island customers to use less energy Monday night, on top of Summerside's conservation efforts. 

"We will be experiencing a high demand for electricity on our system tonight and tomorrow morning," the utility said in a social media post. "Reducing energy consumption where possible during times of high demand, especially during the hours of 4 to 8 p.m. and 6 to 10 a.m., can help reduce the load on our system."

Jason Roberts, the utility's president and CEO, told CBC News that Maritime Electric is upgrading its systems "at a rapid pace" but strains on the province's grid have grown more common in recent years.

"We've seen our population grow, which is also driving increased demand for electricity," Roberts said late Monday, adding that electrification programs designed to decrease carbon emissions are "promoted by federal and provincial governments; it's not something that we've been driving.

"We feel good about where the system is, but the reality is… there will be times when we'll have concerns about the availability of supply, whether it be [from] off-Island or here on the Island." 

Outages, threat of rolling blackouts lead to questions about strength of P.E.I.'s power grid

2 hours ago

Duration 2:29

Nearly 19,000 customers in western P.E.I., including all of Summerside, were left without power for the second Monday in a row. That led utilities to urge customers to conserve energy and speak of the possibility that rolling blackouts might be needed. CBC's Cody MacKay reports on the day's events and some Islanders' uncertainty about the province's power supply.

In Summerside, officials were also asking people to reduce their energy use as Maritime Electric crews worked to repair damage to the Sherbrooke substation north of the city. 

We will be doing our part to conserve load use by closing all non-essential municipal operations. Residents should also conserve energy where possible to help reduce strain on the system.— City of Summerside

"To help mitigate the impact, the City of Summerside is utilizing all available energy assets, including our solar farm battery, wind farm energy, and generators," the news release said.

"In addition to these efforts, we will be doing our part to conserve load use by closing all non-essential municipal operations. Residents should also conserve energy where possible to help reduce strain on the system." 

That means not running a clothes dryer or dishwasher to ensure critical services like the police and fire departments have enough power to operate in case of an emergency, said Mayor Dan Kutcher. 

"We're trying to reduce our load in order to make sure that residents have as much electricity to heat their homes as possible," Kutcher told CBC News. 

"If we get to a situation where things become more difficult or there [are] longer brownouts or blackouts in different circuits across the city, we will be prepared to open warming centre one, warming centre two, warming centre three. Right now we don't anticipate that being a need … [but] we certainly are prepared and have all hands on deck."

Second major outage

This was the second Monday in a row that customers in western P.E.I. experienced a widespread outage.

At the height of the latest outage, with temperatures hovering around –10 C, more than 19,000 customers in the region were without electricity. Service was restored across the region by midday.

Public Schools Branch schools in western P.E.I. sent students home at 9:30 a.m. due to the outage. French-language schools in the area, including École Pierre-Chiasson, École Évangéline and École-sur-Mer, were also closed for the day.

In a statement to CBC News, Health P.E.I. said all in-person appointments at primary-care facilities like the Alberton Health Centre and Tyne Valley Health Centre were being cancelled until noon due to the outage. It said affected patients would be contacted to reschedule their appointments.

'Very much problematic'

People in Summerside said the two major outages in as many weeks have them concerned about the state of the electrical grid in the city and right across the Island. 

"I'd like to know why they keep happening, especially in the same area. It's more of an inconvenience than anything, especially this time of year," said Desiree Rogers, who had to stay home from work to care for her young children because of the outage. 

You do wait forever for a health-care appointment and to suddenly find one cancelled at the last minute, then you're distressed.— Eric Shields

Baltic resident Eric Shields said he's concerned the issues were due to over-consumption, and wondered whether the province's grid could keep up. 

"People have a hard time when school's out suddenly. Parents… have to go to work and they're scrambling to find care for their kids," he said. "You do wait forever for a health-care appointment and to suddenly find one cancelled at the last minute, then you're distressed."  

For businesses like Summerside Butcher's Shop, extended power failures are inconvenient in another way — it means they could lose customers, product and money. 

"First thing that goes through my mind is 'How long is this going to last for?'" said office manager Angela Waite. "Most of the perishables, they're good for some time, but… any length of time, it becomes very much problematic." 

While Summerside generates its own electricity through wind and solar, Kutcher said the city does purchase the additional power it needs from New Brunswick. The city then pays Maritime Electric to move that energy into Summerside. 

"In due course, we'll have to have this ongoing discussion about… making sure we have better energy security — not just here in Summerside but across Prince Edward Island," he said.