Hydro-Québec outages are not fun. My town house condo complex has incurred many of these over the years, not to mention forced shutdowns for maintenance work. At times like these you truly realize how much we appreciate having power in our homes.

One of two generators currently powering Parkside 21.

For the past two weeks  the residents of  Parkside 21 town house condos, located in District 2 on both Kildare Road and  Rembrandt, have experienced some very difficult times.

Power went out in their complex on January 11 and it did not return for two days. Hydro installed two generators, but even with those machines running there additional outages. I communicated with my regular Hydro contacts, who are responsible for our area, and  as always I thank them for their accessibility. Crews did repeatedly come on site, but appears as if this problem was not an easy one to solve.

Finally, last weekend a temporary solution was found.    This week Hydro  will run a cable from an operational underground transformer, which is located behind #6586 Kildare Road, to the faulty transformer located on the #6590 lot. This cable will be run on the surface. For safety reasons, Hydro will have to install some barriers running on each side of it. Due to the pedestrian access between the two lots (across from Sir-Walter-Scott), a small portion of the cable will have to be buried underground.  

One this is done, the generators will be removed. I am being told that a final fix to this problem might not occur until the end of the year until then the residents of Parkside 21 will be able to resume a normal life.

The grid in this area is old and I worry about other outages like this occurring. Hydro has been in talks with some condos to upgrade the system. This would involve some exchanges of servitudes. I hope that any preventive measures that can be taken will be on the agenda in 2023.

You can always report an outage by calling  1 800 790-2424 or go to   : https://pannes.hydroquebec.com/poweroutages/