OTTAWA – Heavy freezing rain has downed wires and tree branches across Hydro Ottawa’s service territory today.
There are currently several power outages affecting 14,000 customers in the south, central and western parts of the city.
Hydro Ottawa crews have been dispatched and are actively assessing the system and working to restore power. Priority is placed on repairs that pose serious safety hazards first, and restoring power to critical infrastructure such as emergency services, hospitals, water and sewage treatment plants, schools and larger neighbourhoods of customers, followed by smaller impacted areas. Safety is the number one priority amid these icy conditions.
Hydro Ottawa will continue to post information regarding these ongoing outages on our website, outage map, and on our Twitter account.
There are two ways for customers to report a power outage:
- Call our 24/7 outage hotline at 613 738-0188
- Submit a report online through the MyAccount customer portal
Customers are encouraged to be prepared in case of extended power outages. Learn more about storm preparedness here or read our blog about what to do during a winter power outage.
Safety tips
- Hydro Ottawa asks the public to respect work site perimetres by keeping a safe distance from crews and as they work on energizing the power grid.
- If customers notice downed power lines, stay at least 10 metres away (the length of a school bus) from the wires and from any objects that are in contact with the lines such as trees. If there is a downed power line, please call us at 613 738-0188.
- Drive carefully. When traffic signals are out, always treat intersections as all-way stops and proceed through intersections with caution.
- As power is being restored, Hydro Ottawa reminds residents to conserve their use of energy and avoid turning on all electronics and appliances to avoid impacting the electricity supply.
- Please reserve the use of 911 to situations where there is a risk to public safety, and life-threatening emergencies.
In advance of the freezing rain warning, Hydro Ottawa issued a Weather Watch email to customers on April 4, and enlisted its employees and crews to begin planning.
As we did with the winter storm in December, our operators are monitoring the weather - and our field crews are ready to respond and restore outages as needed. A team of employees, contractors and on-call specialists, such as arborists, are also on standby to respond throughout the day or night if necessary.
Media Contact
Josée Larocque
Manager, Media and Public Affairs
Hydro Ottawa
Tel: 613-738-5499 ext. 7496