Many North Island residents will be without power for most of this upcoming Sunday.
BC Hydro is planning a power outage on May 25 from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. which will affect 7,554 customers.
In a Facebook post, BC Hydro said there’s never a good time to have a power outage.
“We need to turn off power in your area while we perform critical maintenance work and replace end of life transmission structures that feed the North Island.”
The outage will affect Port Alice, Port McNeill, Port Hardy, Woss, Telegraph Cove, Alert Bay, Malcolm Island, Coal Harbour, Holberg, Quatsino, Winter Harbour and other surrounding areas.
BC Hydro Community Relations Manager for Vancouver Island Ted Olynyk said they are unable to spread the work out to affect less people at a time.
“The North Island is fed with a radial line, it starts at one point and ends at one point, there’s no other way we can feed the community from a different direction.”
A planned outage was planned for Port Alice on May 20 affecting 681 customers but was cancelled and moved to the planned weekend outage.
Residents are encouraged to protect their electrical devices by unplugging all electronics and turning off all lights, electric heaters, and major appliances.
BC Hydro hopes to have the power restored as soon as they can after it’s shut off.
