Power restored, but residents asked to conserve electricity

“Electricity to most people in the Sudbury area has been restored, both Greater Sudbury Hydro and Hydro One customers, by rerouting electricity through other pathways,” GSU spokesperson Wendy Watson said in an email Friday afternoon. “The cause of this morning's outage -- a downed transmission line to Clarabelle (Transfer Station), is not yet repaired, so the fix is still fragile. An overload of power demand could knock everyone off again.”

As a result, residents are asked to conserve as much electricity as possible, particularly from 5-9 p.m., to ensure the system isn't overloaded, leading to further power outages. 

“Please refrain from doing your laundry, using your oven or any other unnecessary appliances, electronic devices or lights,” Watson wrote. “If you use your barbeque, please do so outside. If you choose to use candles, please make sure they are never unattended.”

Problems began at 6:50 a.m. on Friday when a Hydro One transmission line fell, cutting supply to Clarabelle, which supplies electricity to a large part of city. The GSU rerouted power around the downed line and is getting supply from the Martindale station while Clarabelle is being fixed.

There were more than 20,000 Greater Sudbury Hydro customers without power at 7 on Friday morning. Power was back on for GSU customers in 88 minutes, Watson said in the email, while Hydro One worked throughout the day to restore power to its customers and fix the downed line. Repairs should be complete sometime this evening.

“Until we have a stable power supply and can restore our regular configuration, we ask everyone to help maintain the system by conserving electricity where and however possible,” Watson said.

Original story
Hydro One customers in Greater Sudbury still without power will have to wait a few more hours before the lights come back on.

The utility tweeted Friday afternoon that restoring downed lines was talking a little longer than expected.

“High winds have impacted restoration in the Sudbury area,” the utility tweeted. “We are working to transfer load to restore power to customers still affected … restoration is estimated by 4 p.m.”

The outage began around 6:50 a.m. Friday, and affected more than 12,000 customers. A main Hydro One feeder line went down, affecting many Greater Sudbury Utilities customers, as well, but power has since been rerouted.

“Approximately 6,000 customers have been restored by switching the Chelmsford and Azilda distribution stations,” Hydro One said in a release. “Crews are working on restoring the other approximately 6,400 customers that remain without power.”

Areas still affected include Lively and some parts of the Valley. Real-time information is available at www.hydroone.com/StormCenter3, or by calling 1-800-434-1235.

As a result of the outages, Greater Sudbury Police remind motorists that some some traffic lights at intersections are either off completely or flashing. Police wish to remind drivers that these intersections should be treated as a four-way stop intersection.

“Drivers are asked to use caution, patience and common sense at these intersections,” police said in a release.