Last year, Hydro-Québec customers spent on average nearly 17 hours without electricity, three hours more than in 2022.
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These figures come from documents submitted last week to the Régie de l’énergie by Hydro‐Québec, which must transmit information annually on its distribution activities.
In 2023, Hydro customers spent on average almost 17 hours (1008 min) without electricity, compared to 13.7 hours (821 min) in 2022 and approximately 5.5 hours (346 min). ) in 2021.
The weather in the dock
According to Hydro-Québec, the numerous forest fires in Abitibi, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, on the North Shore and in Nord-du-Québec are responsible for a large number of these service interruptions.
The freezing rain storm and violent winds of April 2023, as well as the violent thunderstorms of July, which left 392,000 customers without power at the height of the storm, also have their share of responsibility, according to the company of state.
Montérégie among the worst
Of all the regions of Quebec, it is Montérégie which suffered the greatest number of outages in 2023. According to documents sent by Hydro-Québec during the study of budgetary appropriations in Quebec, Montérégie residents had to face 15,135 breakdowns last year.
The Laurentides region comes second with 8,268 outages, followed by Montreal (7,357 outages) and the Capitale-Nationale region (6,919 outages). Outages include outages and planned outages of 5 minutes or more.
“It is common knowledge that the year 2023 was one of the worst in the last 15 years in terms of power outages,” admits Cendrix Bouchard, of Hydro-Québec. “Improving the quality of service is the number one priority of our 2035 action plan,” he said.
The government’s appetite
Hydro-Québec has set itself the ambition of correcting the trend and reducing the number of outages by 35% within seven to ten years. The state-owned company wants to spend up to $50 billion in the coming years to improve the situation.
“Depending on the region, 40% to 70% of breakdowns are attributable to vegetation that comes into contact with our equipment. Pruning and cutting trees are the main means of preventing them (…) We will need the collaboration of the public and stakeholders from different environments,” explains Cendrix Bouchard.
The problem, according to Normand Mousseau, professor of physics at the University of Montreal, is that the government always wants more money from its main cash cow. “When the Minister of Finance says: ‘I need more revenue from Hydro-Québec’, while we don’t increase rates, I don’t see how we will be able to improve the situation for citizens,” he said.
“We cannot improve the network if there is no way to free up money to do the work. Let’s not dream,” adds the man who is also scientific director of the Trottier Energy Institute at Polytechnique Montréal.
According to him, the government will either have to accept a lower dividend from Hydro-Québec in the coming years, or decree significant increases in electricity rates.
Total number of breakdowns in the 5 most affected administrative regions in 2023
- Montérégie: 15,135
- Laurentians: 8268
- Montreal: 7357
- Capitale-Nationale: 6919
- Outaouais: 5852
Source: Hydro-Québec
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