By: Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Essex Free Press
Council for the Town of Essex will join the County of Essex Council in sending a letter to Hydro One to ask that the utility accelerate and prioritize its local infrastructure investments to eliminate chronic power flickers and establish verifiable grid reliability.
Essex Council will also forward a letter to ENWIN, which purchased the previously town-owned E.L.K. Energy last year, asking for an update on flickers, reasoning as to why they are occurring, and what ENWIN plans to do in regards to power flickers.
This was supported at the October 19 Essex Council meeting, following the motion Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy made first at County Council on October 7. The County Council resolution included sending it to the seven local municipalities that make up the County of Essex in search of support.
It seems like there’s been a lot of flickering, especially in Ward 1, again, Bondy said. She believes the local LDCs are doing what they can to mitigate power flickers, but that sometimes it is coming from the Hydro One territory.
Essex CAO Kate Giurissevich explained she had been in contact with ENWIN Utilities’ CEO Garry Rossi. Unfortunately, she said, there’s no one answer for flickers. There could be a variety of reasons causing them, which makes it a very intricate infrastructure problem at the end of the day. It could range from a lack of tree trimming, which she said E.L.K. has done in the past, to squirrels jumping on the lines. It could also be due to old or aging infrastructure.
She recommended Council forward a letter to ENWIN asking for an update on flickers, and provide some reasoning as to why they are occurring and what the utility plans to do in regard to power flickers and get that on the public record.
Bondy received information from an Essex Centre home that is tracking when power flickers take place. According to that information, it appears the power flickers can happen a couple of times a week, she relayed.
“And residents want to know why they are happening,” Bondy said. “It seems like it’s worse in Ward 1 than it ever has been.”
Councillor Katie McGuire-Blais said Council has been told that the switches are working when this has come up in the past.
“It is really great the switches are working, but the power is still going out somewhere, and we are still losing power, and people are still losing appliances. It is still a nuisance,” she said.
McGuire-Blais would like a better answer than that the switches are working.
She said that answer isn’t enough anymore, and would like Council to push back if that is the answer provided.