Even this actress can no longer tolerate Hydro-Québec

A victim of connection delays and poor communication from Hydro-Québec, Sophie Bourgeois wants to get things done and help the roughly 500 customers who have been waiting to get electricity for more than two years.

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It was played by Sophie Bourgeois The Escape, CA and Cornemus And a dozen other TV series and movies, one of Hydro-Québec’s customers whose connection date has been constantly postponed and has tried in vain to get answers from the state company. She was moving into her new home in January and until recently worried she wouldn’t have power for the winter.

“I made my request on March 7, 2023 with my master electrician. After an initial delay, I was told that I would finally be connected on October 25th. But in the end, if all goes well, I’m afraid I won’t be able to connect until next spring. So I’m going to be semi-camping with my two kids until then, which isn’t good!” She told us during a meeting at her home on Thursday morning.

Too many speakers

The case of this actress who lives in Lawrence clearly illustrates the complexity of the connection process at Hydro-Québec. A process that involves many steps and many stakeholders, they often pass the buck.

On the street where Sophie Bourgeois lives, an old transformer has been overloaded for a long time. So Hydro needs to change that. But to change the transformer, the hydro pole has to be made bigger. Finally, to install this new post, you will need to drill if it is on the rack. Maybe why? Because Hydro-Québec had not yet arrived to assess the situation.

“When I call Hydro-Québec, I get different versions every time. There, I was told that the subcontractors were too busy to respond. But thanks to a contact at Hydro, I was able to find out who this subcontractor was. Calls were made to this subcontractor and guess what? They replied “No, we have room. We are waiting go Hydro,” she said.

Light showers

On November 7, Hydro-Québec gave Sophie Bourgois a new connection date: February 26, 2024. The problem was that the state company told her that Hydro “doesn’t drill in the winter,” so another employee told him that yes, Hydro will drill in the winter… if drilling is needed to replace the pole. We’ll have to wait until the thaw next spring.

Meanwhile, Sophie Bourgeois has to pay her electrician more than $1,000 to plug her temporary electrical input into her home’s panel and get her through the winter. “But I’m going to connect to 100 amps. When I leave the stove, I have to turn off my lights. And my kids need to bathe a lot less. I don’t have to deal with it. I’ve been paying for my electricity since I was 16!

The file will unlock suddenly

On Thursday evening, the Journal reported the situation to Hydro-Québec and asked them for their version of the facts. The next day, Sophie Bourgeois received a call from Hydro that her file had been “accepted as a humanitarian issue” and that it had been submitted “to the Priority Committee on November 13”.

The connection, Hydro-Québec confirmed to us Friday, “should be completed in the coming weeks.” In its response, Hydro-Québec said it only received a request for work from the master electrician (for pole planting) on ​​October 20, 2023, hence the explanation for the delays.

“They know from March 7, 2023 that my new electrical input requires 320 amps. They also have proof that our house has been under construction since April. Since then they might have come to drill and change the pole, they don’t have to wait for us to get the connection,” laments the actress. “We worked on our own. If we warn them in advance, you are on your side, telling them to do what you have to do. You have a pole to change, a transformer to change, start thinking about it.

whispered Hydrolo internally

Never mind that her case is solved sooner than expected, Sophie Bourgeois wants to go public to make things happen. Not just for her and her family, but on behalf of all her loved ones. “I understand that there may be risks, but Hydro-Québec has not offered me any solutions. It’s a monopoly and we depend on them and they don’t take responsibility. This has to change. We don’t need to go in the media to make things happen,” she said.

Internal sources at Hydro-Québec also confirmed Newspaper They are “disgusted” by the way their employer handles these cases. One of them said, “Do what you have to do, because it’s time for things to change.”

Let’s remember that News magazine Hydro-Québec recently revealed that it generated 492 connection or power requests from residential customers over 24 months, a record.