Recent upgrades to the electrical systems in and around Lake Cowichan had nothing to do with Monday night’s power outage, according to BC Hydro.
The outage, which lasted from approximately 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and impacted customers throughout Lake Cowichan and the surrounding area, came on the heels of a 12-hour planned outage last month. The June 26 day without power at the Lake allowed BC Hydro crews to perform upgrades on the transmission line between Duncan and the lake communities, as well as repair and replace power poles, insulators and other old equipment.
Ted Olynyk, BC Hydro’s manager for community relations for Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast, said Monday’s outage was not related to those upgrades.
“It was a simple branch on a line,” he said. “It cascaded to the substation. We have new equipment in there, a brand new transformer, so the crews were being very diligent that there wasn’t anything else that was the problem. But it was essentially just a simple branch on a line.”
He said BC Hydro was able to get some homes back online before 8 p.m.