Hydro-Québec had originally planned the outage for Dec. 16 from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., set to affect some 400 residents, but challenges starting one of the generators needed to power a school meant the outage had to be delayed.

“Today’s planned outage has been postponed due to a malfunction in one of the generators supplying power to the school, which was unable to provide electricity during the day,” HQ spokesperson Simon Desjardins explained over email. “However, some live work was still able to be carried out during the day.”

In a Dec. 12 email, Hydro-Québec spokesperson Simon Desjardins said the outage was needed to allow for some 20 teams to install new poles and move over the old power lines to their new homes. He said generators would be installed for the two elementary schools, the Picabou daycare centre, and the Résidence Meilleur to ensure their power supply.

Hydro-Québec also has a second controlled outage planned for Shawville this week, set for Dec. 18 between 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.. It is expected to affect some 60 residents in Shawville, mostly along Main St.

“The work is aimed at improving the network, in particular by replacing certain poles, and was considered urgent in order to ensure the network’s sustainability, especially during the winter period,” Desjardins said.

He added all affected customers should have received a message via Hydro-Québec’s automated system. The online message delivery platform operates according to parameters determined by the customer.

Update: Dec. 16, 2025 This story was updated to reflect the fact that the L’Isle-aux-Allumettes outage was postponed from Dec. 16.

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