Davisville Village power outages explained

Since last May the residents of Davisville Village have been aggravated by short, temporary power outages, which typically end after less than two minutes, on an almost weekly basis.

“We know this is a first-world problem,” Ward 22 councillor Josh Matlow said. “But it sets off alarms, shuts off clocks — it’s an ongoing irritant and inconvenience in peoples’ lives.”

At Matlow’s urging, Toronto Hydro began investigating the problem in July, about 14 months after the outages began. In late August, the answer was discovered: ongoing upgrades to the neighbourhood’s electrical infrastructure, which the company expects to finish by the end of September.

Toronto Hydro spokesperson Tori Gass said before the upgrades much of Davisville Village’s electrical infrastructure relied on overhead box construction systems installed in the 1950s. These outdated hydroelectric poles are more susceptible to severe weather and, because of their age, replacement parts were no longer available, she said.

During the box construction system’s replacement, the company was forced to transfer the neighbourhood’s electrical load from three feeders to one, Gass said. With no backup systems to maintain electricity during a disruption, even something minor such as a small tree branch falling on a wire could potentially lead to a brief outage.

“It did take some time to determine what was going on in the area,” she admitted. “The outages the customers were experiencing were pretty short, so it was harder to investigate than, say, if somebody is out for an hour or two and we immediately send crews out to investigate and make repairs.”

Matlow said while he’s happy with the results of Toronto Hydro’s investigation, he’s less pleased it took the company such a long time to respond to the problem, despite repeated calls from both residents and his office.

“I admit I was frustrated with them,” he said. “They’re always looking at hiking rates, but they’re not providing residents in this community with stable and reliable service.

“People understand there are problems,” he continued. “So just explain it, and as long as we know that you’re working on it, that’s fine.”