City preparing residents for planned power outages in April

PENTICTON – The City of Penticton is preparing residents for the prospect of planned power outages, beginning next month.

A $1.3 million capital project to construct a secondary bus to distribute power from the city side of the Westminster Substation to city customers is the reason for the planned outages. The upgrade will update the Westminster Substation from an 8 kV to a 12 kV system, making it consistent throughout the City of Penticton. The improvement will increase the system’s capacity to handle larger loads as well as providing more flexibility to restore power during emergencies.

In order for the inservice date of August 31, 2015, to be met, the Westminster Substation must be de-engized by May 1.

The impacted area is from Okanagan Lake to the north, Abbott Street to Ekhardt Avenue-Main Street to Huth Avenue to the east, Huth Avenue to the south and the Channel Parkway to the west.

A comprehensive plan has been developed by the city's electrical utility to balance customer inconvenience with schedule and budget constraints. Each outage will mainly happen in the early morning hours, between 1 to 5 a.m.

It is expected 25 per cent of Penticton electric utility customers will experience a four to six hour power outage during the month of April.

Crews from the electrical utility will hand-deliver notices to residential owners advising them of the proposed date and time of the outage. Notices will be distributed approximately one week prior to the outage.

Traffic control personnel will be stationed at light controlled intersections during the outages to assist drivers.

City staff outlined their outage plans in a report delivered to council at the March 17 council meeting.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.