With snow coming down across many parts of the Lower Mainland on Tuesday morning, BC Hydro says it’s ready to go to handle both the snow and the ice.
It’s been a busy few days for crews dealing with outages predominantly in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island.
Spokesperson Kevin Acquino tells 1130 NewsRadio the snow is just one part of the story, but as temperatures dip, it can complicate things, including potentially leaving powerlines vulnerable and people in the cold dark.
“Our crews have been preparing for weather events like this … and if need be, we’ll put crews on standby. We do prepare for storm season year-round so our crews can activate a storm response at a moment’s notice and this definitely enables us to ramp up our BC Hydro crews, our contractor crews and call centre agents.”
Acquino adds that as the cold settles in, the utility expects usage to go up, but has not set any records this week.
“Our forecasters do predict that demand will reach up to 10,700 megawatts, however, the record was broken last year — January 2024 when the demand peak was well over 11,000 megawatts.”
You may recall that the region was plunged into a deep freeze last year with daytime highs, with the wind chill, in negative double-digit territory.
Acquino says Hydro can handle the drain on the grid right now.
“We do record the highest demand for electricity in the winter months, that’s between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on weekday evenings. This is when British Columbians come home, turn up the heat, switch on the lights, do laundry, and make dinner.”
He adds they have systems in place to protect powerlines from ice and nearby trees to help avoid widespread outages.
“We encourage customers to manage their home heating with a thermostat and setting it at optimal temperatures throughout the day. During the cold, we encourage customers to draft-proof their home, not only for the wintertime but for the summertime as well, and keep windows covered with blinds and drapes.”
Over the weekend, he adds crews were able to handle the snow with 9,500 customers left without power at the peak of the storm.