Blue River, Avola among communities scheduled for 12-hour outage

By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG

BC Hydro has scheduled communities in the North Thompson Valley – including Blue River, Avola, and Clearwater, among others – for a 12-hour outage on Sunday, September 14th.

The outage, taking place from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., will not affect Valemount and McBride, as these villages can use independent power producers, according to BC Hydro.

The company has planned the outage to complete maintenance work on the transmission line running through the North Thompson and Robson Valleys. According to Hydro’s Community Relations advisor Susan Edgell, this work includes replacing 17 transmission poles, inspecting, replacing and installing transmission switches, and logging hazardous trees in some areas.

The outage will affect about 8,500 customers, according to BC Hydro.

“To maintain and strengthen the reliability of the line, BC Hydro needs to conduct annual work to perform some critical maintenance, repairs and upgrades,” the company’s operational update reads. “BC Hydro appreciates its customers’ patience and understanding while this important work is completed to better serve the community.”