Outage Update

North Bay Hydro is currently working on upgrading existing infrastructure to ensure long term reliability for our community for both today, and the future.

During this time, certain loads in the areas of Pinewood, Thibeault Terrace, and Highway 11 North, have been shifted, and are being fed from alternate Sub-Stations. As a result, they may be more susceptible to an “Auto-Reclose” event.

What is an ‘auto-reclose’?

Auto-reclose events are the reason for short periods (seconds) of power loss.  It is commonly referred to as a blip, or a quick on/off.

 Electricity can seriously injure or even kill. When an object such as a tree, bird or animal touches the overhead high voltage wires in such a way that creates a short circuit or fault, a breaker with reclosing ability will open up and cut power to allow for the object to clear the line. The breaker will then close quickly to restore power, hence the term auto-reclose. The system is designed this way to offset larger costs associated with the damage or loss of infrastructure that results from these faults , and maintain expenses that are typically associated with such an occurrence.

 In cases where the fault isn’t cleared from the reclosing function, the breaker will open again and remain open until a North Bay Hydro crew is dispatched to the area.

 In the past month we have, unfortunately, had a higher number of incidences in the West area of North Bay. These happenings have been a result of both tree and squirrel contact. However, rest assured, the North Bay Hydro System is working exactly how it is designed, and ensuring outages are simple and short in duration.

 North Bay Hydro also uses both Facebook and Twitter to communicate outage information with our community!