'That's wrong': Newmarket residents 'ticked' planned hydro outage won't result in rebates

Power being turned off to relocate hydro poles to accommodate expansion of GO train service

Yorkregion.com
Aug. 15, 2022
Lisa Queen

Newmarket residents Jack Knight and Glenn MacAlpine are upset they and their neighbours will have their power turned off for three or four days this month but will receive no compensation from Newmarket Hydro.

“It’s the fairness and the principle of it. They shouldn’t be able to get away scot free without any kind of accountability to the public. That’s wrong,” Knight said.

He called hydro to say customers should be reimbursed, just at Rogers customers received rebates after a massive outage beginning July 8, but said his concerns were dismissed by an employee who said the Rogers outage was unplanned while the utility company was giving advance warning.

MacAlpine is frustrated with that explanation.

“I don’t think it’s right that you should be paying for a service that isn’t being provided,” he said.

“Out of fairness, people should be getting a rebate.”

But Blaine Osmond, hydro’s communications co-ordinator, said hydro charges are based on consumption and residents won’t be billed during the times the hydro is off because they won’t be using power.

Residents will be without power Aug. 16, 17, 18 and possibly Aug. 22 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day, according to a letter from Newmarket Hydro’s Newmarket-Tay Power Distribution Ltd. (NT Power).

Turning the residents’ power off is needed to facilitate the electrification of railway lines needed for Metrolinx’s expansion of GO train service.

NT Power must relocate an existing electricity distribution line, including hydro poles, across the railway tracks at Queen Street.

Newmarket Hydro said 164 customers in the area of Queen and Main streets will be affected by the power outage.

Initial work on the project started Aug. 8.

While Knight said he understands the work is necessary to provide better GO train service, he said he remains “ticked” hydro won’t rebate customers.

While Knight and MacAlpine, who live in a rental building at 487 Queen St., say a rebate wouldn’t be a lot of money, they argue it could make a big difference to seniors and low-income residents.

They also argue not having hydro for six hours a day for three or four days could mean residents might have to throw out spoiled food from their fridges and freezers.

Employees working from home won’t have power for their computers, they said.

And another heat wave could be unbearable for older adults or people with health conditions without air conditioning, they added.

The utility company will not compensate residents for the inconvenience of not having power, Osmond added.

“Regarding our discussion on potentially monthly fees being credited, NT power has the following policy regarding outages, whether planned or unplanned: NT Power does not refund hydro for periods where the service is not available,” he said in an email.

“We try to minimize disruptions on our system but unfortunately, we must sometimes take outages for maintenance or upgrades of the system. In this instance, it is due to hydro poles needing to be replaced due to the Metrolinx expansion.”