Another power outage: ‘It is getting a bit much’

Something has to be done about the frequency of power outages that are slamming the local business community, says the president of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce.

Something has to be done about the frequency of power outages that are slamming the local business community, says the president of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce.

Rick Karp told the Star today the series of lengthy outages Yukoners have endured this year are costly and particularly tough on small and medium-size businesses, which are already pressed to make profit margins.

Monday afternoon’s outage was not just about the 30 minutes or however long the power was out throughout the entire Whitehorse-Aishihik-Faro grid, he said.

Karp said as result, for instance, the Internet went down for a more than two hours, and with no Internet, local businesses weren’t able to use debit or electronic credit card services.

Some of the big businesses in town like Canadian Tire can afford to install a backup generating system to eliminate their vulnerability to the electrical grid, Karp pointed out.

“But I am worried about the small and medium-sized businesses that are trying to eke out a living in these tough economic times, and they do not need this added stress,” said Karp.

He pointed out the Yukon government spoke proudly last year about a new energy plan for the territory, heralding a promise to provide reliable and consistent service, reliable and consistent supply.

“We have not seen that,” he said. “And it is regrettable.”

There is great reliance these days on plastic to make transactions, he noted. If you’re unable to accommodate a customer at the time they’d like to make a purchase, there’s a good chance you’ll lose the sale, he said.

Karp said last year, an outage fried his debit machine, which took him four days to replace. That in itself was another headache, he said.

Power failed downtown at approximately 2:30 p.m., came back on very briefly and then went out again.

It was on in some sections of downtown about a half-hour later, 45 minutes in other areas but not for some time longer in yet other areas on the grid.

Traffic in the downtown became congested but continued to move, slowly.

Northwestel Inc. spokeswoman Anne Kennedy said today the Internet service was back up at around 5 p.m., about 60 minutes after the power was fully-restored to the company.

Yukon Energy spokeswoman Janet Patterson said staff suspect the problem occurred with a transformer at the Aishihik hydro plant, which can supply up to 30 megawatts of power to the system, with its two 15-megawatt generators.

The plant was still off-line this morning as crews were onsite continuing their investigation into what went wrong, she said.

Patterson said six of the seven diesel generators in Whitehorse were fired up to make up for the loss of the Aishihik plant, and were on-line this morning to assist the dam’s four hydro turbines when demand peaked at 9 a.m. at 49.2 megawatts.

As of noon today, four diesels were running in addition to the hydro turbines, as the load had fallen to 48.78 megawatts, even with the Minto Mine and Pelly Crossing on-line.

Patterson said with the additional diesel-generating capacity in Whitehorse and Faro, there are still nine megawatts of surplus above this morning’s peak, even with the new arrival of the Minto Mine and Pelly Crossing on-line. The mine and Pelly Crossing hooked into the grid last week.

While Yukon Energy isn’t yet sure what caused Monday’s equipment failure, the publicly owned corporation is certain it has nothing to do with adding the mine and Pelly Crossing to the grid, she said.

“You can connect the dots, and in this case the dots do not connect,” Patterson said. “There are certain things you can rule out right away.”

She said Monday’s outage was the ninth “major” failure of the year, compared to seven last year.

Major, she said, is an outage affecting most if not all of the WAF grid, though she wasn’t sure how many outages of other sorts there were. Nor could Yukon Electrical Co. Ltd. come up with a number this morning of other, less major outages.

Patterson said of the nine major blackouts, seven were the result of failures with Yukon Energy equipment, one was caused by vandalism and one caused by a failure with Yukon Electrical equipment.

There’s no question the power outages are a costly and frustrating occurrence, said a local businesswoman who had to send home two tradesworkers Monday afternoon.

With the shorter workday and the lost wages, she told the Star this morning, there is a substantial cost.

She pointed out all the equipment in the shop is electrical, and when the power is out, it’s too dark to work in any case.

“And it happened last month too,’ she said, adding it wouldn’t be fair to deduct wages from the employees, “because they are here, and ready to work.”

Patterson said the power was fully restored to the entire grid by 3:42.

Shehnaz Ali, spokeswoman for the Public Service Commission, said the Yukon government doesn’t have any specific employee policy regarding power outages, as there can be so many different situations.

It’s essentially up to the immediate supervisor, she said.

During Monday’s outage, for instance, she was having a meeting in her office because there was enough available daylight, but she’s sure it wasn’t like that everywhere.

This morning, there was a sign up on the door of a local coffee shop on Main Street, advising customers its debit machine is down as a result of the power outage.

Jack Kobayashi, co-owner of Baked Cafe & Bakery, said it is frustrating to deal with power outages, and the lost revenue. With no power, there’s no espresso machine, and there’s a chance anything in the ovens will have to go into the garbage bins, he explained.

It was particularly bothersome when it went out during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and he was faced with paying staff time and a half, with no revenue coming in for a stretch.

On the other hand, it’s not a life and death situation; there is still drip coffee and some customers actually said they enjoy the ambience and quietness a power outage brings, with the serenity of only the daylight coming through the window, he said.

Kobayashi said at his architectural office of Kobayashi & Zedda, a power outage can be a major nuisance, as everything is done on computers these days.

But it also gives him a reason to pick up the pencil and ruler again.

“Which is kind of nice . . . . But you can’t have this happen all the time. It is getting a bit much.”

Karp said he doesn’t want to single out the power providers, but there comes a point when there has to be some accountability.

Business owners are telling him they lose money, but they don’t get any break at the end of the month on the power bill.

Yukon Energy and Yukon Electrical, Karp pointed out, have a guaranteed profit margin, unlike any other business in the community, and Yukon Energy is supported by the Yukon government.

“There is a very real cost to these power outages,” Karp said. “And if it is out for three or four hours, the cost is huge.”

Losing power and revenue can’t just be dismissed as the cost of doing business in the Yukon, he said.

As a supplier of electricity, Karp said, the cost of doing business is ensuring your ability and equipment to supply the product is in good shape and well-maintained.

“But when you have this many, in such a short period of time, we are saying, ‘Please look at your equipment.’”

Karp suggested perhaps it’s time they recruit somebody to go through the system with a fine-toothed comb.