Repetitive power outages, agitated citizens

Many citizens of Matani and Mytis in Boss-Saint-Laurent‌ experience the effects of repeated power outages in their area.

The petition revolves around putting pressure on Hydro Quebec. She has already collected 346 signatures from the 500 target.

It was Yannick Boiswert, of the bi-des Sables sector, who took the initiative to initiate the process, to get the Crown Corporation to take the situation into its own hands and rectify the situation quickly. On the petition page, we read that breaks are frequent and recurring and that they sometimes occur ten times a day.

This situation causes a lot of headaches for the residents, but also causes many farms in the area, which can sometimes cause significant loss of income.

A citizen who met with the TVA Novelles team admitted that the blackout sometimes lasts between a few and four hours. Consumers fear that this recurring problem will damage their electrical boxes and appliances.

“Since this fall, it has been visible every two weeks,” lamented Daniel Belanger, a resident of By-des-Sables. It becomes boring. You are listening to something on the television or working with the instrument and suddenly everything stops and you have no idea what is going on. Like everyone else we pay for our electricity, Hydro Quebec needs to wake up a bit. ”

Municipality Mayor Denise Santerre understands the dissatisfaction and supports the initiative of the petition initiated by Mr. Boycewart. On December 7 he sent a request to Hydro Quebec for a resolution with the Bi-des-Sables Municipal Council to move the file forward.

Julie Dubey, Hydro Quebec manager for Boss-Saint-Laurent, contacted him Tuesday morning and scheduled a meeting with elected officials on the matter by the end of January.

“Eventually they came here to meet with the elected officers. In January, she answered me positively that she could tell us how they were going to do this work and that they were going to make repairs,” Mr Santerre said.

“At the moment we are under a lot of pressure, I think it’s solid and it’s a good opportunity for our citizens to finally have a repaired network,” said the mayor of By-des-Sables.

In its latest report, Hydro Quebec stated that more than average interruption hours were in effect in many areas of Matani and La Mitis. On December 24 and 25, several service interruptions occurred in various municipalities, requiring their teams to be deployed in the field to rectify the situation.

The Crown Corporation is committed to finding solutions for 2021 by conducting a situation analysis. “This is an analysis that needs to be done in more depth before the statistics can be put forward,” said spokesman Stefan Dumaresk.

“It takes more or less time depending on the results and the work we have to do,” he said. We must first consider whether there are problems throughout the sector or whether they are localized, the type of work or the nature of the work requested, and whether the equipment must be replaced. We also need to see if we need to make planned interruptions to customers at different times. All of these affect the time required to perform the work. ”

La Matani and La Mitz are areas that are more vulnerable to high winds and salty air, said Stefan Dumaresk, which increases service interruptions in places.

Based on the analysis results, Hydro Quebec can specify when citizens can expect the power network to return to normal.

“We understand the reaction of the people,” Dumaresk said. We involve them in this process and we want to reassure them of our desire to work with them and ensure the best service quality. ”