~ Canaan Connexion ~ ~ Hydro One Information ~

Canaan Road: What's with the hydro glitches? Hydro upgrades along Canaan, thanks to Walmart - 2007  Ongoing updates Canaan Road: What's with the hydro glitches? By Patrick Meikle - Editor, Canaan Connexion Hydro glitches! It happened again last week - a short hydro flicker. Not enough to shut down the power, but enough to knock our every electrical appliance in the house... computers, DVD/VHS timers, clocks from coffee makers to bread machines to microwave ovens... even a tweet on the smoke detectors. What's with all of these hydro glitches, especially after our hydro lines along Canaan Road were upgraded to super strength just two years ago, with the assurance the new lines "would be more stable and reliable"? (See story below, Glitches are nothing new.) Caller frustration: Try calling Hydro One and see what it takes to find out. If you call their 1-888-664-9376 number, you get a "drill down" menu with four choices. You can either press numbers one to four, or with their new menu, you can say the keyword. If you press on #1 (for power outages) you then get another four options. (By the time you actually get a warm body, your power may have been restored!) When you finally do reach someone, you are talking to some schmuck from someplace like Markham who doesn't even know where Rockland is! After many such "flickers" over the past two years, I had had enough, so I called Hydro One to see what the problem might be. Perhaps there was a problem at this end, like the hydro equivalent of a circuit breaker near here. I was able to short circuit (pardon the pun) the process because I had the name of an area manager in Perth, from a previous problem. After leaving my name and number and a description of the problem with some secretary, it still took a call back from someone to get further information, before my concern was passed on to our own area supervisor who works out of Vankleek Hill. (Ah, those were the days not so long ago when if we had a hydro problem all we had to do was to call the Vankleek Hill office for almost instant gratification.) Now one week later I have finally heard from the local supervisor. But I still had to explain to him what the problem was. Could be a tree touching a line, an old insulator, or maybe a lightening arrester, I was told. Solution: They will put a "fault indicator" on the lines around here to see if the glitch can be isolated and identified. In the meantime, I am waiting for the next flicker, and hope that it doesn't happen as I write this story. Back to top Hydro upgrades along Canaan, thanks to Walmart - Summer 2007   A major Hydro One work project along Canaan Road during the 2007 summer, upgraded the entire power line grid from Sarsfield to Rockland and was thanks to the new Walmart Supercenter store located on Highway 17. Hydro One crews gather on Canaan Road (right) this past summer to upgrade power lines to accomodate Walmart. (Photo - Patrick Meikle) Hydro One media relations spokesperson, Al Manchee confirmed that Walmart "is paying for the line into their (Rockland) facility" and was quick to point out that the "cost is not being recovered from the Ontario power pool." It was rumoured that Walmart would have to pay around $1.5 million to cover the cost of the extensive upgrades. According to one Hydro foreman working on Canaan, we residents would benefit from the new lines as they would be more stable and reliable. We didn't think so back in August 2007 when we had about four or five momentary glitches – enough to knock every computer and electric clock in our homes! When you go to the Hydro One site, look for "Power Outage Notification System" then click on "Southern Ontario". Once on that page click on the YELLOW Vankleek Hill dot... confusing, eh? Back to top

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