Six days after the major ice storm, some 20,000 Hydro-Québec customers were still without power. The state-owned company says it is working tirelessly to reconnect the last homes by Tuesday morning, but many of them, already exhausted, may have to wait until Wednesday.
Among the 800 outages remaining on Monday evening, half of which are in Montreal, one of them has affected Alexandre Lucas’ house in the borough of Pierrefonds-Roxboro since Wednesday afternoon. “I have a six-month-old baby, and it’s 10 degrees inside, so we had to move,” says the visibly exhausted father on the other end of the line.
The family, who has since taken refuge with relatives, had however found power on Saturday. But for a few tens of minutes only. “We heard an explosion in the street, it was the circuit breaker that had dropped,” explains Mr. Lucas. He then jumps into his car to drive around his neighborhood and comes across some Hydro-Québec workers. “I asked them to come and see what was going on. They sent three trucks with 8-9 people. »
After inspecting the electrical installation, the technicians tell Mr. Lucas that this operation “wouldn’t last long, since there is only the circuit breaker to be changed”. Once the new circuit breaker is installed, a second explosion occurs. “They finally told me ‘it’s quite simple, you just have to change the transformer’. But since they did not have the accreditation to change it, they told me that a Hydro-Quebec truck was on its way. Two days later, Mr. Lucas said he was still waiting for her to come.
Mr. Lucas’ frustration is all the greater because “in the words of their own employees, it’s an easy problem to fix”. “I have my 83-year-old grandmother who arrives from France on Tuesday to visit us. I don’t know what we’re going to do,” he breathes, discouraged.
“I understand that there are a lot of people to reconnect, but when you’ve been waiting for six days, it’s starting to be difficult not knowing when you can go home. We feel neglected,” concludes Alexandre Lucas.
Small unconnected sectors
According to data from Hydro-Quebec, the outage affecting the home of Alexandre Lucas affects a total of 14 customers. A small residential unit that is not a priority, since the Crown corporation prioritizes sectors affecting a greater number of people.
“There are hundreds of pockets of 10-11 people who have no electricity, but there are still people,” laments the father of the family.
Hydro-Quebec is not advancing on a definitive date when all Quebecers will be reconnected to electricity following the impressive ice storm. But the number of people without power continued to decline quietly on Monday evening. Priority establishments, such as health establishments and CHSLDs, are now all reconnected to the network.
“Is it impossible for isolated people [dans des secteurs résidentiels] wait until Wednesday? It’s not uncertain,” said one of Hydro-Quebec’s spokespersons, Francis Labbé, in an evasive tone. “We will do everything so that within the next 24 hours, all of this will be over. »
More than 1,500 workers were active on the ground on Monday. “Teams work 4 p.m. shifts. There will probably be a few breakdowns here and there. [lundi soir] due to major damage to the local network,” says Mr. Labbé.
Reconnection operations take time since, depending on the situation, it is necessary to clear access to electrical installations by clearing branches, replacing poles, transformers or even complete lines, he explains. Work that may require the intervention of specialized teams.
In some cases, such as when the mast is damaged, residents must call a master electrician themselves, and not Hydro-Québec, recalls Mr. Labbé.
No clearing
Asked about the possibility for the state corporation to offer some form of compensation to customers affected by the outages, the Hydro-Québec spokesperson is categorical: “No. If we are talking about food loss, for example, it is the insurers who take care of it. Also, Hydro-Québec will not bill its customers for the service that was not provided during the outages. »
Regarding private residences for seniors (RPA) who lacked electricity for several days when they were a priority, as reported by Radio-Canada and The Press, Hydro-Québec ensures that they have power again. Contacted by The dutythe Ministry of Public Security did not respond in time to explain why these establishments are not on its official lists.
Telephone and Internet providers have also been mobilized in recent days. Videotron and Bell claim to have restored almost all of their service in Quebec. The latter, like Telus and Fizz, have announced in the last few days that they will not charge fees to customers who have exceeded their mobile data plan, under various terms.
The government recalled that more than 100 emergency centers have opened their doors in the most affected regions, in order to allow people for whom the blackout is prolonged to go to warm up, eat and recharge their electronic devices.
More than 98% of the 1.1 million households without electricity since Wednesday were reconnected to the Hydro-Quebec network Monday at 6 p.m.