Hydro-Québec is planning a scheduled service interruption on Thursday,  January 13 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Merrimac, Kildare and Marc Chagall sectors. If you did not receive a robocall, you are not affected.

"This work, which we regrettably cancelled in December, is critical and complex'" Hydro officials shared with me. "While many options were considered to minimize the impact of the interruption while the pandemic is ongoing, the only solution was really to carry out the work during the day maximizing the effectiveness of the manpower available. We are very sorry for the inconvenience this will cause."

I spent the better part of the week, backed by city officials, trying to get this job moved to overnight. Our local Hydro contact did her best on the file, but it was just not possible. Coming at a time when we are in a pandemic, with people working from home and students attending class online, this is beyond a major inconvenience. I recommend everyone charge their devices and chargers and download what you can to your devices.

Below are the addresses affected:

Hydro officials emphasize that this work needs to be done as soon as possible to ensure the quality and stability of the power supply:

· It will require more than 20 people from Hydro-Québec, as well as workers from external firms.

· Three electric transformers need to be changed with interrupters, pumps, etc., requiring the usage of a crane and bucket trucks.

· More importantly, it will prevent outages in the future that could last 24 hours like the one in November and affect many more customers without notice.

Hydro is working in collaboration with the city to mitigate the impact of this service interruption and accelerate the work as much as possible. Also note that should an unforeseen event prevent the work to be done on January 13, the job will be postponed to January 18. Hydro will notify users as soon as possible if a postponement needs to occur.

For information  log on to: https://poweroutages.hydroquebec.com/poweroutages

Customer service: 514 385-7252