At the peak, 15,566 Entegrus customers were affected by power outages this weekend, beginning Saturday evening March 30.
Entegrus officials say a large amount of customers in Chatham, Ridgetown, Blenheim, Thamesville and Erieau lost power around 8:45 p.m. on March 30, due to an equipment failure at the Hydro One transmission station that feeds the Entegrus system.
“A combined effort between Entegrus and Hydro One allowed power to be restored manually to the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance and approx. 600 customers in North Chatham, as well as approximately half of the customers in Ridgetown by 10:30 p.m.,” Entegrus officials said in a media release.
“Power was restored to all remaining customers by 11:30 p.m.”
The extreme weather caused further damage to an insulator on Hydro One’s system which caused an additional outage to Entegrus’ customers in the Town of Merlin.
“Repairs to equipment were made, and customers were restored by 11:45 p.m.,” Entegrus officials said in a media release.
“Additionally, the inclement weather in the area caused snow covered lines and coupled with high winds caused additional outages in Blenheim and Ridgetown during the early hours of Sunday, March 31. All power was restored to these customers by 4:45 a.m. on Sunday.”
Entegrus officials added: “We would like to thank our customers for their patience while our crews worked to safely restore power this weekend. Entegrus would also like to extend its appreciation to our colleagues at Hydro One for their assistance with restoring power as quickly as possible.”
Although Entegrus works diligently to minimize the number of outages customers experience, it is good practice to be prepared for one to occur at any time, Entegrus officials added.
“Ensure you keep your emergency kit up to date, and in the event of an outage, do not call 911. Report the outage to Entegrus, and follow us on Social Media for updates.”
