GRAND BANK, N.L. — Deputy Mayor Clayton Welsh says residents in Grand Bank are feeling “pretty frustrated” by the number of power outages in the community since the start of the year.
Welsh raised a number of concerns regarding Newfoundland Power during the town council’s meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 12.
Some areas of the town have lost power four or five times in the last few weeks, he said, adding some of those instances have been quite lengthy.
One of Welsh’s concerns is whether the company is doing the proper maintenance of its infrastructure in the town.
“Maybe they are, but I’m just wondering, for us to have so many outages, and it’s to the point now that people are telling their spouses: prepare, there’s a storm coming, more than likely we’re going to lose our power,” he said.
“To me, something is going wrong somewhere.”
During the meeting Councillor Roger Brooks said the power has gone out on three different occasions on Elizabeth Avenue. Each time a fuse by the Anglican Church was the problem, he claimed.
“I mean, Elizabeth Avenue was out eight hours one day and then 14 hours another time. Then they said there was nobody on call,” Brooks said.
Designated contact
Another concern raised during the meeting was the need for better communication during weather events, ideally in the form of a dedicated contact.
Mayor Rex Matthews said the town has a right to know what’s happening.
“At any given hour, there should be a contact that (town officials) could call on behalf of the Town of Grand Bank and find out exactly what’s going on and when they’re expecting (the power is) going to be back on,” Matthews said.
Matthews told SaltWire Network after the meeting the company does check in during storms, but the town feels communication is inadequate and there should be a person identified they can contact directly to get the most up-to-date information.
Welsh also said he wonders if Newfoundland Power is living up to a promise it made to the town about three years ago when it made changes to its operations in the area.
At that time, the company relocated its light and power trucks that had been regularly stationed in Grand Bank to its main regional site in Burin. The town was given assurances a vehicle would be dispatched to Grand Bank in advance of any adverse weather.
Welsh said he’s unsure that’s happening.
Matthews said a letter would be sent to the company raising the concerns.
“(Outages seem) to be happening way too often to our people in certain areas of the town,” he said.
“We need some answers from (the company) because people have got to have a sense of stability when it comes to their power.”
Intense storms
Newfoundland Power spokeswoman Michele Coughlan said the company is committed to providing safe and reliable service to all its customers.
“This winter has brought several very intense storms to the province along with blizzard conditions, extremely high winds and heavy snowfall amounts,” Coughlan wrote in an emailed response.
“Unfortunately, the Burin Peninsula and Grand Bank/Fortune area have been significantly impacted by these winter storms. In advance of any storm or weather system, we ensure our crews are deployed to locations where the storm is expected to hit the hardest.”
Coughlan indicated customers in the area have experienced on average less than an hour of outages over the past five years, giving some perspective on the overall reliability of service Newfoundland Power provides to the region.
“Recent storm-related outages have resulted in longer outages due to the intensity of the storms. In many cases, crews were delayed reaching trouble areas due to impassable highways and secondary roads,” she wrote.
“Once crews were able to get access to trouble areas, damage assessments were completed and repairs were made despite challenging working conditions with blowing snow and heavy snow drifts. Salt spray and heavy ice loading due to the direction of the extreme winds also impacted the electricity system, making repairs even more difficult in some areas.
“Any necessary upgrades or replacement of damaged equipment were also made while making storm-related repairs to strengthen the electricity system in this area. There are further planned upgrades to the electricity system being scheduled in the next couple of weeks, weather permitting.”
Coughlan stated the company does its best to communicate with municipal leaders and customers during outages through direct outreach, updates to its website, social media and media partners.
“We very much appreciate our customers ongoing support and understanding for our crews as they work as safely and quickly as possible to restore power whenever they’re needed,” Coughlan wrote.
