Courtesy: Linda Montpetit

By Angela Kazmierczak

Empress and surrounding areas facing a power outage

Jan 19, 2023 | 5:26 PM

UPDATED- EMPRESS, AB – The town of Empress and surrounding area have an ongoing power outage due to heavy ice weighing on power lines.

Aaron Finkbiner from ATCO Utilities says there are many factors contributing to the outages.

“The additional weight could lead to the wire breaking or a pole failing, or when the ice falls off, it leads to the wires to bounce, slapping together. All these cause outages,” said Aaron Finkbiner, ATCO’s Regional Manager.

He says the Village of Empress was fully restored with power as of 12 p.m. on Jan. 20, but a second outage may occur in the village depending on the weather.

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“Again, we’ll send PLTs [power line technicians] out to respond to outages, and then when the wind picks up, the wires will began galloping, meaning they’ll bounce, contact each other, causing these outages,” said Finkbiner.

ATCO is currently trying to restore power to other parts of south eastern Alberta.

“We brought in ATCO crew from other service areas as well as expert third-party contractors, so this means we have around 100 people working around the clock on restoration efforts,” said Finkbiner.

“They live in these communities. Their friends and families live in these communities. We have no issues getting resources down to these areas,” the manager said.

“I’d like to thank everyone for their patience and remind the public to be safe. Stay at least 10 meters away from any down power lines, and if you see any down power lines or have an outage, we would appreciate it if you could report,” he said.

All reports can be directed to 1-800-668-5506, My ATCO Electricity App or online.