For BC Hydro, “storm season” means an increased likelihood of power outages, and more crews ready to respond at a moment’s notice to outages that can affect thousands of customers.
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about how Hydro crews restore power:
1. What do we do if a power line on the ground?
You may think that a damaged power line that’s still live with electricity would be sparking, smoking or at least making a buzzing sound. But a fallen power line might be live even if it’s not doing any of those things.
Always assume a fallen power line is live.
Stay back at least 10 metres (about the length of a bus), keep anyone else in the area away, and call 9-1-1. Fallen power lines are an emergency, and Hydro crews will work with emergency responders to make the area safe.
2. How does BC Hydro prioritize getting the lights back on?
Safety is always the first priority. Crews work to repair any issues that present an immediate danger to health and safety. From there, it’s a matter of getting the most customers back on as quickly as possible.
• That often means repairing high-voltage transmission lines and substations. Transmission lines, unlike the distribution lines in your neighbourhood or on your street, serve large numbers of customers. Damage to a transmission line or substation equipment can affect tens of thousands of people, instead of a few hundred.
• Next, crews will work with municipalities and emergency responders to get power back to critical services, such as hospitals, fire stations, and municipal water systems.
• Hydro crews restore outages affecting a large neighbourhood, then smaller neighbourhoods, and finally, outages affecting individual customers or small pockets of five customers or fewer. That can mean that “newer” outages that affect much larger numbers of people may get tackled before an “older” outage in a smaller neighbourhood.
3. BC Hydro doesn’t know about trees or branches on the lines until you tell them.
Crews need to figure out what’s caused the problem – and that’s where the public comes in. Smart meters have made it easier than ever for Hydro crews to pinpoint how many customers are out, but they can’t tell us what’s causing the problem. That’s why Hydro still asks people to call 1-888-POWERON on a landline, or *49376 on a mobile device if they have key information that will help Hydro crews.
If you can see a tree down on power lines, a branch on the lines, if you saw a bright flash or have any other information, give BC Hydro a call.
4. If you can’t see the Hydro crews, it doesn’t mean we’re not working on the problem.
Distribution lines from local substations are often located a distance from your home. A tree down four or five blocks away could be causing your outage.
If your power is out due to a problem on a transmission line or at a substation, it can be several kilometres away.
BC Hydro often has customers tell say they haven’t seen any trucks or crews in their area – but just because people can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not working on your problem.
It’s a similar situation if you see crews arrive, and then leave. Crews usually can’t determine the extent of the damage or the repairs that are required until they arrive on site. They may need different equipment to make repairs, or they may determine that the source of the problem is in another area. If crews leave, chances are they are still working on getting power back.
Watch for updates on our mobile-friendly site at bchydro.com/outages – as crews report in about the damage, BC Hydro will provide estimates of when we expect to get power back on.
5. When surrounding areas have power and you don’t, BC Hydro hasn’t forgotten about you.
Crews may call it the electricity “grid,” but distribution circuits and feeders from substations aren’t laid out in a perfect square. So while most outages caused by storm damage can affect entire blocks or streets, there are times when your neighbours or the next street over are served by a different line or feeder.
That can sometimes mean that you may have power and your neighbours don’t – or vice versa.
You can check BC Hydro’s outage map to see the latest status for your home. Search by your address to find it on the map or select the red dot closest to your home to see the outage area. BC Hydro will post estimated restoration times once crews have arrived and assessed the damage, and update the estimates as they work.
6. Getting the lights back on can sometimes mean turning them off again.
When crews are making repairs, they do everything they can to get the lights back on in the meantime. In some areas, they’re able to switch customers to another circuit temporarily to start providing power again while crews work. It makes outages shorter and gets the lights back on while crews fix and replace equipment.
But to complete the switching process, Hydro crews sometimes need to take a short outage to allow crews to do their work. For customers, this might look like your power coming back, only to go out again shortly after.
7. Putting power lines underground can’t eliminate power outages.
Outages during storm season are mostly caused by fallen trees, so it’s reasonable to think that BC Hydro could prevent most outages by simply putting power lines underground.
However, the truth is there are thousands upon thousands of kilometres of power lines to serve homes and businesses in B.C., and putting them all underground would be difficult and hugely expensive.
Underground power lines are typically much more difficult to locate, access, and repair. This usually means longer outages, which can affect more customers than a single overhead line.
Specialized vegetation experts and BC Hydro’s partners in the municipalities work to proactively identify trees at risk of falling onto lines – known as hazard trees. BC Hydro crews regularly maintain and prune trees around our equipment.
Winter weather is unpredictable, so people should always be prepared in case of an outage. Keep an emergency kit on hand, and use BC Hydro’s mobile site to stay informed if one does hit.