Planned Penticton power outage to affect Main Street

A Main Street electrical upgrade on June 3 will result in savings only because the power will be off for five-and-a-half hours.

Electric operations manager Eric Livolsi laughed when asked if the planned upgrades will result in savings going forward. "They will have zero impact on electric bills," he said, except for the part of the power being off for 5.5 hours. The upgrades are part of his department's long-term plans to make Penticton's electrical system more reliable.

Businesses and residences of Main Street and Wade Avenue will be affected by the temporary power loss.

Livolsi said this means replacing small overhead power lines with larger versions so the system can push more electricity. City crews will use existing manholes on Wade Avenue to get at underground electrical infrastructure. No holes will have to be dug.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Quesnel at squesnel@infotelnews.ca, call 250-488-3065 or tweet @shannonquesnel1 https://twitter.com/shannonquesnel1‎