Willow River Residents Tired Of Being In The Dark
Numerous power outages have made life challenging for Willow River residents photo courtesy Google Maps
Prince George, BC – It will be another day without power for a large pocket of rural residents living to the east of Prince George, near Willow River…
Last night's snowstorm has caused a handful of outages – the hardest hit spots include: 97 homes east of Dawson Road in the Hart, 92 residents living near Summit Lake and another 83 residents living east of Shields Road near Willow River. BC Hydro is estimating power will be restored by 10pm.
The residents living near Summit Lake have had a hard time with outages this week, with a six hour outage overnight Wednesday, and an eight-hour outage yesterday. But that is nothing compared to what residents living in Willow River and Upper Fraser have been experiencing this fall and winter. Overnight Thursday, 274 customers had their power go off at 10pm and it was not restored until 5:30pm last night. It remained on for about six hours, until 11:30pm, but the snow knocked out service once again until 11am this morning.
"Certainly with what is now numbering nearly two dozen outages since the beginning of November in the Willow River/Upper Fraser area, customers are frustrated and so are we," says BC Hydro's Northern Community Relations Manager, Bob Gammer.
"What has been causing the outages has been snowload on the lines – not only the distribution lines, but also the transmission line that comes from Prince George out to the Upper Fraser substation – and, then, also trees, snow bringing trees into contact with our lines."
Gammer says both a line crew and a vegetation crew have been working extensively in the area to restore power, remove trees, and maintain/improve the reliability of the line. He says further vegetation work will be done in the spring and Hydro is looking at other solutions for the area, including 'sectionalizing' the line. "If we can put some switches in the line in that area, we could reduce the number of customers who are impacted," says the Hydro spokesperson.
Right now, Gammer says, when there is a problem at the end of the line, the whole line goes out and all 275 customers are affected. The outages have made life for those living in Willow River and Upper Fraser extremely challenging.
Kevin Dunphy is the owner of the Willow River General Store. "I've had irate people coming in, people who are just trying to bear with it, but we're all dependent on Hydro for our heat, our functioning," says the frustrated business owner. During the course of his conversation with 250News, he offered up a flashlight to one customer to access the mailboxes, and had to apologize to another for being out of candles. "We're the only gas and diesel place that's available here and, so, people can't get fuel."
Dunphy says residents in the area expect and are prepared for a certain number of outages due to the forces of Mother Nature, but says last year saw an exceptional number and this fall and winter have been no different. Dunphy is a Director with the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George and raised the issue with BC Hydro at last fall's Union of BC Municipalities' gathering. Since then, he's been speaking with Bob Gammer on a regular basis and believes Hydro is doing the best that it can to address the situation, but that doesn't make it any easier on residents.
"There's a lot of hardship for everyone and, fortunately, we're not minus 40 below because then it becomes extremely bad," says Dunphy. "We aren't as bad off as Toronto was or Halifax, but the unfortunate part is that we've been getting this on a steady basis just because of the weather conditions."
For his part, Hydro's Bob Gammer readily admits, "This is a problem and we need to get it addressed."
Comments
I wonder how many times in the last six months hydro transmissions to the USA have failed due to snow and trees on the lines? Want to bet not once?
Kevin, you being a business owner who has been out there since the 80s I would have thought by now you would have had a generator backup system since you now have gas.
The price you pay for living in the sticks! Live in the sticks and not have a wood stove or a fireplace? Really?
Live out the in boonies, what do you expect?
This could be another way to provide more power to sell…rolling black outs in rural areas of BC??
@ Huh, maybe Kevin didn’t have the gas to run the generator, to run the gas pumps⦠say what??? Just kidding, hope him and the rest of the residents out there get their power restored soon.
Power is out in Willow River again…at 5:30 pm. Word was out they were going to do a planned outage at 10pm…so no rush on getting supper cooked. Thank you Mr. Bob Gammer for hiring people that don’t know how to tell time. Unbelievable.
Hydro is probably waiting until the new smart meters are working so the company can be told where the outage is….
It wouldn’t surprise me they are thinking that way….
They usually don’t think, in my opinion….
Jim13135 you might be closer to the truth than you know…
Hydro does have the ability to shut off the smart meters at anytime they like for as long as they like, and who would know truth, it would be pretty hard to prove one way or the other…….. but they wouldn’t have an artificial hydro outage to feed more power to the USA now WOULD THEY?… no not them….wink wink wink
One would think hydro would do proper line maintenance. But they’re probably not worried about a few hundred customers!!
Bcracer how would bc hydro shutdown individual smart meters? I could see a future where the data is interfaced with an existing recloser but that is old technology.
I am sure you are being facetious since 80 homes in northern bc is exactly 0 percent of the system capacity….
It doesn’t matter where people live. If they are connected to the grid they should expect and receive the same service as anyone else.
Who doesn’t have a woodstove or a fireplace? Really?
Some people don’t have a woodstove or fireplace, the same as in town. Do you think just because people live outside the city limits that they should need them any more than urban dwellers?
I don’t expect hydro to fix this issue very soon. it’s an old grid that needs to be overhauled and there no big business to support it. MY person issue is since I had my new smart meter (which is not in the smart meter system yet) my bill has been $50 more a moth the same as most. Then 9% increases in April for no better service. I also have a business HOI Systems I run out of my house that I host many web sites like willworiver.ca and eastline.ca but the on and off is killing my UPS’s and other equipment. Telus must also be happy as they have to come and manually keep the phones up when the power is down for safety reasons. Yes in the sticks I get where you coming from. Alternate energy is a serious thought. At least when I lived in Penny you planned for these things.
Our MLA should tell them every time our power goes out they have to shut down the flow of hydro to the USA…then they would find a reason to fix it in a hurry.
to Johnny Belt – Live out the in boonies, what do you expect?
Before I would write that, I would first think!!!
So living on one side of the railway tracks means – you hardly never lose power. Living on the other side of the railway tracks, means, losing power all the time.
I don`t think, it has something to do with living in the boonies, but has something to do, how BC Hydro does the maintenance of the power lines.
And by the way, living in the boonies is still great with woodstove and woodfurnace, low taxes, no fees for garbage etc.
Look in the phone book for another hydro company and then threaten to take your business elsewhere. Tell them you will build a wind turbine and install solar panels. Hire a good well digger to find some thermal junk. Then they may listen to you. Explore yer options, folks.
Jim you know nothing about power system operation.
Jim13135, I was actually posting in response to NoWays comment about wood stoves and fireplaces.
Get a freaking pellet stove if you don’t have a fireplace. It’s called being prepared. If your not prepared you die. Ice storms can do a lot of damage and power can be out for along time. It’s called looking after yourself and your family. Don’t rely on others to do that for you.
I have never been without a wood stove in the north. The spouse wanted to get rid of the last one when it packed it in and I said no way because even living in city limits our power used to go out 6-10 times a winter. Would have neighbours and friends stay over because they were without heat. Worked out great because they brought the food as we have a gas stove.
This is the first winter so far for us the power has not gone out. Went through the government wood stove program which helped with the cost and ridding of the old stove. Cuts my hydro in half and still costs less even when buying a logging truck load and bucking. Gives me exercise.
The newer stoves put out less smoke now so I don not need to worry about anyone complaining!
Pellet stoves are not always the best options as they still need power to move the heat.
“Get a freaking pellet stove if you don’t have a fireplace” .. most pellet stoves require power for the auger and fans. Just a plain old updraft woodstove is the answer, and I would be surprised if at the very least 90% of the people in willow river don’t have wood stoves. I used to live there and everyone had them back then.
Seamut, are you a know it all?
Dragon…’really’. I got ya now.
Pellet stoves require power to work….although heat isn’t the only concern to many. Having refrigerators and deep freezes full of meat out of operation for hours and hours and hours, with no known time for restoration of power is a concern. So is water, many homes have wells and without power you have no water. And for some reason we have also been losing our land line telephone service and some of us do not have cell service so it becomes a safety concern.
This isn’t acceptable for delivery of such an important service in this day and age, we pay the same high rates as everyone else and we should be getting the same levels of service. When was the last time Prince George lost power a dozen times in two months?
Thanks for pointing out to huh that a pellet stove requires…..wait for it….. Power!! So, huh, do your homework before you start dishing out your sage advise. I am always surprised by people who live in the city complaining constantly about your roads, on and on and on it goes. But anyone outside of the city limits are not allowed to say a word about no power not for a hour but for days. So here’s my sage advise to you on here who can’t see past your own snow bank, … Get a shovel, or a snow blower, get out there and clean your own streets, stop expecting everyone else to take care of YOU !!!
My bad… Apologies huh!!! I meant to aim my arrow at no way. Oops!!!
Ya in the electrical generation business for forty years, what would you like to know.
suzir: “And by the way, living in the boonies is still great with woodstove and woodfurnace, low taxes, no fees for garbage etc.”
Great, but the mistake you make is expecting the same level of power service that urban dwellers get. You’re going to be subject to more outages in the sticks where the grid isn’t as strong. This isn’t opinion, it’s fact.
Of course pellet stoves need power. So do gas fireplaces to move the heat around. But they don’t need much power. If you have no woodheat at all a pellet stove is the easiest to install. Grab a little generator and while you run your generator to keep your meat frozen in the deep freeze run your pellet stove too!
How many of the problem trees that took out the power fell from private property? Maybe Hydro should send the repair bill to those property owners that neglect to look after their own trees!
rayban68,
for your info… Hydro has the capability to shut of smart meters remotely…. be it one or a bunch….of course they have to be activated first, and so far up here they aren’t…
I was not refering to this outage but
maybe one in the futer?????
my comment that “they might” was definitely tongue in cheeck, but think about it the possibilities are there….
How do they do that? I cannot find anything online. For hot metering that would require a large expensive 200A contactor and for ct metering a separate contractor matching the service size interfaced with the meter would be required. I have not seen an installation like that.
Where did you confirm that this capability exists? Which route did they take?
“Of course pellet stoves need power”
The ones we have today do if they are hooked up to ducts like a forced air furnace.
One just needs a properly designed wood stove, “kacheloven” or fireplace in order to keep much of the heat in the room it is located in rather then sending most of it up the flue.
I live in city limits and my freezer is outside in the non-heated garage. Don’t need much power to keep it cold, mother nature does that for you
rayban68, it is called the remote service switch built into your smart meter https://www.itron.com/na/productsAndServices/Pages/OpenWay%20CENTRON.aspx I think BC hydro was going to order theirs initially without the remote service switch but that was a few years ago – also not sure if they changed their minds as that conversation was long before they started to install them
The things we “unlearn” when someone shows us that electricity is better.
http://www.inspirationgreen.com/masonry-heaters.html
from that site
“Also known as masonry stoves, kachelofens, Russian fireplaces, Finnish fireplaces, Swedish stoves, tile stoves, contra-flow fireplaces, radiant fireplaces and mass-storage fireplaces.
“Inside, masonry stoves burn hotter than metal wood stoves and their winding maze of flue (baffles) warms the surrounding masonry, which then emits heat for 18 to 24 hours. The temperature can reach 2000 degrees inside some masonry heaters (vs 700 inside a metal stove), yet they stay comfortable to the touch on the surface.
“At these high internal temperatures, the hydrocarbon gases ignite, leaving very minimal pollution.
“When burning wood, about 30% of the generated heat is supplied by the wood solids and 70% of its heat is contained in released gases. If the volatile gases are not fully combusted, they escape as wasted heat and polluting particulate emissions.
“Igniting and then drawing the heat out of the combustion gases turns almost every ounce of wood into energy. A slow burning, low temperature, low oxygen fire produces tar and hydrocarbons, a fast, hot, air-fed fire burns the pollutants up.
“Add a storage battery (the masonry) and you have a very efficient, non-polluting heating system.
“A metal stove gives out its heat rapidly, thus never allowing the inside combustion temperatures to achieve the 1100 degree F plus needed to ignite all the gases.”
Gus, not many people are versed in the building of proper brick masonry fireplaces anymore. I remember going to Europe in my younger days and all the old homes had brick ‘bakery’ ovens in them for making bread. i was told as kids we used to fall asleep on the top of them but I don’t remember it.
Sunday morning and three power bumps already….will it ever end?
You bet 8 bumps now out until Monday sometime. The grid done might be a super long Winter on the eastline
Seamut>>how wonderful to have a resident expert on here!!
They have 10am for power coming back on in most of the areas that have power out….and here the lights keep going on and off…so what are they doing?? Obviously they are not removing downed trees from live wires, so what could they possibly be up to?
Your the expert….let us know your best guess.
Sorry to hear about your hydro roubles Benny and Jim, with the weather that is on the way, it may not get any better, perhaps even worse?
Hang in there!!!
No Power for the Eastline – but I can see lights 200 metres away, that is the part of Willow River/other side of the railway tracks, that never loses power.
Come on BC Hydro, you must be able to fix the Eatline!!!!
Jim it’s most likely phase slap caused when the snow falls off. The lines contact when unloaded causing a trip then reclose. It has been an issue out that way for decades that has never been properly addressed.
Seamut = i do believe you are right about the cause. yes in the 10 years of living in Willow (north side of tracks) last was a bit bad this year really bad, more off than on and about 20 browns or more a day (hard on electronic and my business web server, pumps dryers e.g..) Next spring I will put in the right equipment to switch off right after the power meter and run my diesel generator when it’s like this. I do not see this being fixed very soon. BC hydro does not want to invest any money into this anytime soon. Just my thoughts. Interesting to see what they will do if the Limestone plant get started next year. The new Giscome school might need a generator to run it and the Eastline Activity centre.
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