An Allumettes Island farmer who keeps track of hydro and phone outages in his area was pleased to announce that they’ve hit a record low in power interruptions, but was frustrated with . . .

the disruptions to telephone lines in the region.

David Gillespie has been documenting the shoddy coverage of the area provided by Hydro Quebec since 2009. He started keeping track of interruptions to his Bell landline this year, after a difficult winter of static-filled or non-existent connections.

This year had a record of only four outages in the first four months, and even those were isolated to a major lighting storm in early March.

“I don’t mind giving good news when it’s due … If we got one a month for the rest of the year I’d be happy.

“[There were] incredible winds,” he continued. “You knew there was going to be a power outage and it knocked it off three times in an hour so you can’t blame hydro for that. We haven’t had one since.”

He said that in his time of keeping track of outages, the previous record low at this time of year was seven, set back in 2015. However, when it came to the phone lines in the region, he was much less optimistic.

He counted at least 15 interruptions on his line in that same time period and added that since they were harder to record precisely than power outages, the real number is likely much higher. He said the system they’re working with is antiquated and expressed frustration with the numerous calls he made in vain to Bell to fix the situation.

“Hopefully, they will take corrective measures to deal with the problems. Time will tell,” he wrote in an email.

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