- Crews, dispatchers, call centre and support staff coordinate storm response effort -
TORONTO, Nov. 6, 2019 /CNW/ - Hydro One employees worked throughout the weekend to restore power to more than 250,000 customers affected by the wind storm that began on October 31. Customers in southern, central and eastern Ontario were affected by fierce winds that reached approximately 90 km/h taking down trees, power lines and other critical Hydro One equipment in its path.
"Our highly-skilled crews worked tirelessly to respond to this significant storm with assistance from our partner utilities," said Lyla Garzouzi, Vice President of Distribution, Hydro One. "We also continue to improve our response time through the use of our weather tracking and outage prediction tools so that we can plan a coordinated effort to get our customers' power back on as quickly and as safely as possible."
Before the storm began, Hydro One tracked the weather system and positioned crews in key areas in the predicted path of the storm. Once the weather system began, more than 1,000 front-line staff were mobilized to assess damage and restore power. As the weather persisted and travelled across the province, more than 80,000 customer calls were handled by 200 agents and systems at Hydro One's Customer Contact Centre.
Hydro One power line and forestry crews were supported by five local utilities, Alectra Utilities, Lakefront Utilities Inc., Peterborough Distribution Inc., Brantford Power Inc. and Ottawa River Power Corporation, who answered Hydro One's call to provide mutual assistance support.
Hydro One encourages customers to always be prepared for an extended outage by having an emergency kit at home.
Below is a list of some of the most important items that should be included in an emergency kit:
- Water and food that won't spoil for all family members, including pets
- A manual can opener
- Windup or battery-powered flashlight and radio
- Batteries and extended battery chargers
- Cash
- First aid kit and medical items
- Blankets
- Emergency numbers including Hydro One's power outage hotline,1-800-434-1235
- Fully charged cell-phone and power banks
- Keep your emergency kit in a backpack and make sure everyone in your home knows where to find it.
Customers can also sign up in advance for text or email notifications at HydroOne.com/MyAccount or by calling 1-888-664-9376 or download the free mobile app.
About Hydro One Inc.:
Hydro One Inc. is a fully owned subsidiary of Hydro One Limited, Ontario's largest electricity transmission and distribution provider with almost 1.4 million valued customers, almost C$25.5 billion in assets and 2018 annual revenues of almost C$6.2 billion. Our team of approximately 8,600 skilled and dedicated employees proudly build and maintain a safe and reliable electricity system which is essential to supporting strong and successful communities. In 2018, Hydro One invested almost $1.6 billion in its 30,000 circuit kilometres of high-voltage transmission and 123,000 circuit kilometres of primary distribution networks and injected approximately $1.3 billion into the economy by buying goods and services in Ontario. We are committed to the communities where we live and work through community investment, sustainability and diversity initiatives. We are designated as a Sustainable Electricity Company by the Canadian Electricity Association. Hydro One Limited's common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: H).
SOURCE Hydro One Inc.
