The single year record for outages stands at 75 (also set back in 2016) and with the way things are going right now ,that mark will be shattered sometime this year, according to David Gilespie, a local farmer who’s been tracking data regarding power outages in the municipality since 2009.

“At this rate, if it continues the way it is, we will have over 100 outages,” he said.

Allumettes Island is served by two different electricity distribution lines covering separate parts of the municipality, Gillespie said. One is called 224, which serves Chichester, Sheenboro and Chapeau. The rest of the island, which is the majority of it, is served by Waltham-221.

Gillespie said he gathers data that focuses specifically on power outages with Waltham-221, which affect nearly 80 per cent of the municipality’s territory. To verify the validity of his data, he confers with several data collectors in all parts of the municipality.

“I have people that check with me every time [the power goes out], at one end of the island with me at the other end of the island to make sure that we have the same data. We’ve been doing that together for years.”

“It has to be 100 per cent reliable,” he added. “Because reliability is everything. If it’s not reliable, [Hydro Quebec] will find out and it’s the end of your data. And [Hydro Quebec] admits my data is very reliable. My data is irrefutable.”

During a phone conversation with The Equity, Gillespie noted that when he moved to the area in 2006, he only experienced a few outages per year at most.

Around a year later, he noticed that the number of outages started ramping up, which prompted him to start collecting data on the matter. For Gillespie, the biggest factor behind the high number of power outages is the way electricity is being managed. While inclement weather always plays a role, he believes that it’s time for Hydro Quebec to provide answers.

“Obviously there are storms that do cause it,” he said. “That’s obvious. If you’ve got big electrical storms with high winds, summer, winter obviously that’s going to cause an outage. But, the others, you’d have to ask Hydro Quebec.”

In 2016, Gillespie along with Pontiac MNA, André Fortin, and other community leaders met with six high-level Hydro Quebec representatives at the MRC Pontiac office in Campbell’s Bay.

Around a month after the meeting, Gillespie recalled seeing the number of outages drop after nearly 50 Hydro Quebec trucks replaced numerous hydro lines, cut trees and fixed broken electrical equipment in the municipality.

“They were here like crazy,” he said. And following that, the hydro outages did drop. But this year, we haven’t seen them much here and there’s a lot of branches starting to grow. Is that the cause? I don’t know.”

This year, Hydro Quebec’s intervention hasn’t been as visible as in the past, while the residents’ need for assistance couldn’t be more imminent, Gillespie said.

“This is not normal,” he said. “Could you imagine if Montreal got 100 outages in a year? They would be screaming bloody murder. Even 30 or 20 they would be screaming.”

Gillespie said he is planning on organizing another meeting with community leaders and Hydro Quebec officials at some point this fall in order to settle the lingering issue once and for all.

“There’s one thing for sure, we will likely ask for a meeting, sit down with them again this fall and figure out what is causing these outages.”

“We should not be third grade customers,” he added.

The consequences of the constant outages affect all walks of life in all parts of the municipality, Gillespie said.

From the ones living with severe illnesses, to businesses trying to provide a quality customer experience or everyday regular people, everyone on the island has been touched by the problem in one way or another.

“People on life support systems, that affects them,” he said. “If they’re in their homes, they have a dialysis machine or whatever. It affects them. It could be life-threatening.”

“Others it’s like the bank,” he added. “Every time it goes off it causes a massive problem for them. They have to shut down their equipment and if it’s more than 15 minutes the Caisse Populaire told me that you have to reboot the entire system. And everything is done manually.”

“A lot of the stores need their lines to run because a lot of payments are done by credit,” he continued. “[A business person] was telling me that 90 per cent of their money coming in wasn’t cash. If that shuts down, then they can’t do business. The big killer is for businesses and certain farmers.”

With many parts of the municipality so frequently affected by the power outages, Gillespie believes Allumettes Island will struggle to market itself unless the situation is addressed.

While the area hasn’t been foreign to issues with electricity over the years, the high frequency of power outages and its effects on locals has becoming extremely alarming for Allumettes Island Mayor Winston Sunstrum.

“It is a serious problem,” he said.

During a phone interview with The Equity, Sunstrum explained that he communicated with Hydro Quebec around a month ago asking for a meeting and some sort of explanation on the issue. However, he said they haven’t come back to him with anything so far.

“That was probably three or four weeks ago,” he said. “And so far, there has been no response to my communication.”

Sunstrum noted that the frequency of outages had reduced significantly for a short period prior to this year. But in 2019, he feels like short and long outages have been quite prevalent.

While a few of the longer ones were planned and notified by Hydro Quebec, the rest of them were not planned whatsoever. Plus, Sunstrum feels like the frequency of power outages has ramped up after the planned interventions.

“It seems like there’s a whole series of outages after that,” he said.

For Sunstrum, the most worrisome aspect of the problem is the lack of communication on behalf of Hydro Quebec.

“It’s very frustrating to know that the outages are happening and not have any explanation for it,” he said.

Sunstrum largely thinks the island’s electrical issues are linked to problems with equipment along the lines. He is also very concerned that outages on the Ontario side of the Ottawa River are also having an effect on the island.

“I don’t have any explanation that that is not happening,” he said. “I’ve been in Pembroke at different times when the power’s gone out there and I’d travel back home and the power’s out on our side. It seems to stay out longer on our side.”

For Sunstrum, meeting with Hydro Quebec officials could be very beneficial for the municipality.

By providing residents with information on their work and their role when it comes to managing electricity in the region and what it can do regarding the constant power outages, locals might finally find answers to their questions, Sunstrum said.

The Equity reached out to Hydro Quebec for comment, but they didn’t respond in time for print.

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