NS Power officials to meet with Cape Breton mayor, council on outage concerns

Cape Breton Regional Municipality councillors are concerned about the number of frequent power outages plaguing some parts of the island.

“Since Fiona there's been power outage after power outage, and we've had some extreme weather, but the residents are getting very disappointed about not only the outages, but the extended outages,” said Deputy Mayor James Edwards.

Edwards wants Nova Scotia Power to meet with council soon to address the frequent outages and to discuss whether enough infrastructure work is being done to keep the lights on.

“In the middle of the winter you've got pipes freezing, food spoilage and we have people with medical conditions who rely on medical apparatuses,” said Edwards.

Nova Scotia Power officials say they will meet with the mayor and council to provide an update on work that has been done since post-tropical storm Fiona.

A spokesperson for Nova Scotia Power said in an email tree trimming across the province is a priority.

The utility is planning to spend around $45 million this year, which is up 40 per cent from the $32 million spent last year and nearly double the tree trimming investments across the province over the five years before that.

Roughly $6 million of this annual investment will be in Cape Breton in 2024.

Many councillors shared their frustrations from residents across the municipality.

“I think there was something like 12 outages between Hurricane Fiona and New Year’s Day,” said councillor Cyril MacDonald.

MacDonald says NS Power has fixed some of the problems in his district.

“Thankfully, Nova Scotia Power has done some work in my district in particular and the number of outages in the most impacted area seems to be less,” said MacDonald

In addition to the annual investment of $45 million on vegetation management, over the next two years, N.S. Power is planning to invest approximately $230 million in the transmission and distribution system across the province.

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