Feature Article December 11, 2003
LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb Home Hydro reps to attend next council meetingHydro outages cause hardship in Addington Highlands
Residents from the northern half of Addington Highlands are being asked to attend next Mondays council meeting, when representatives from Hydro One will be in attendance to explain why that area has been plagued by hydro outages for several months.
The arrival of winter has intensified the problem. In the past five weeks alone, there have been at least 15 outages, totaling around 75 hours.
These outages have caused considerable hardship for residents, especially seniors on their own.Children have also been traumatized by the outages, said Bill Brown, a resident of the area.
Brown has been trying for months to get answers from Hydro One, but without success. He said I am hearing that the bulk of the outages were caused by hydro working on the main transmission line and temporarily feeding us from Northbrook. If this is true, what a stupid time to work on the lines, with winter upon us.
At the November 17 meeting of council, Brown asked that a letter be sent to Hydro One, asking them to come to a council meeting and explain what is causing the problem. Council did that, and also contacted the Minister of Energy. MPP Leona Dombrowsky was later alerted to the situation at an Economic Committee meeting, and she also contacted the Minister of Energy.
As a result of these efforts, Hydro One has committed to send representatives to the township meeting scheduled for Monday, December 15 in Denbigh, at 7:00 pm. After Hydro makes its presentation, residents will be able to ask questions. It is very important that residents come out to the meeting, Bill Brown concludes.
