- New survey reveals most households haven't thought about having an emergency preparedness kit-
TORONTO, Dec. 7, 2023 /CNW/ - As winter officially approaches, a new survey conducted by Innovative Research Group for Hydro One reveals that only 52 per cent of Ontarians feel prepared to manage through an extended power outage. The survey also highlights that while 28 per cent of Ontarians have at least a semi-complete emergency preparedness kit with some of the items they may need, nearly half don't have anything prepared at all.
"Extreme weather events can happen at any time and sheltering in place is a reality for many Ontarians as we saw during last year's holiday storm. Not being able to safely travel makes it incredibly important to ensure you have the items your family needs to be without power for up to 72 hours," said Teri French, Executive Vice President, Safety, Operations and Customer Experience, Hydro One. "We know life grinds to a halt when the power goes out which is why our grid control centre is always monitoring for potentially damaging weather and our crews are available to respond 24/7."
Of the 87 per cent of Ontarians that don't have a fully complete emergency preparedness kit, 39 per cent say it had never occurred to them to have one and 11 per cent don't think having one is necessary.
"On behalf of Ontarians, I'd like to thank Hydro One and their crews for their ongoing work to prepare the electricity grid for the upcoming winter season," said Caroline Mulroney, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for Emergency Management Ontario. "Snow and ice storms pose real dangers to individuals and critical infrastructure alike. Keeping the lights on in the event of an emergency is an important step to keeping Ontarians safe this winter. As the Minister responsible for emergency management, I'm proud to work with our partners, including Hydro One, to make sure people across Ontario are safe and prepared this winter."
Hydro One encourages Ontarians to prepare a personalized emergency kit that reflects the needs of their family. Below is a list of critical items to include:
- Water and food that won't spoil for all family members, including pets
- A manual can opener
- Windup or battery-powered flashlight and radio
- Extra batteries
- Cash
- First aid kit and medical items
- Blankets
- Emergency numbers including Hydro One's outage line 1-800-434-1235
- Fully charged cellphone and a backup battery pack or a corded phone; a cordless phone will not work in a power outage
Keep your emergency kit in a backpack and make sure everyone in your home knows where to find it.
Hydro One also has a number of innovative outage tools available for customers to report power outages and easily access updates when and how they want including outage text alerts. When an outage occurs, customers can report it by texting 92887 (WATTS), or by using the company's outage map and app, or calling 1-800-434-1235.
Hydro One Limited, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, is Ontario's largest electricity transmission and distribution provider with approximately 1.5 million valued customers, approximately $31.5 billion in assets as at December 31, 2022, and annual revenues in 2022 of approximately $7.8 billion.
Our team of approximately 9,300 skilled and dedicated employees proudly build and maintain a safe and reliable electricity system which is essential to supporting strong and successful communities. In 2022, Hydro One invested approximately $2.1 billion in its transmission and distribution networks, and supported the economy through buying approximately $1.9 billion of goods and services.
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 Leader™ by Electricity Canada.
Hydro One Limited's common shares are listed on the TSX and certain of Hydro One Inc.'s medium term notes are listed on the NYSE. Additional information can be accessed at www.hydroone.com, www.sedarplus.com or www.sec.gov.
This press release may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Words such as "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "attempt", "may", "plan", "will", "can", "believe", "seek", "estimate", and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking information. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or actions and involve assumptions and risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted in such forward-looking information. Some of the factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from the results expressed, implied or forecasted by such forward-looking information, including some of the assumptions used in making such statements, are discussed more fully in Hydro One's filings with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada, which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Hydro One does not intend, and it disclaims any obligation, to update any forward-looking information, except as required by law.
SOURCE Hydro One Inc.
