A widespread power outage struck Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and its vicinity, leaving nearly the entire city in darkness for approximately an hour on Friday. The main utility provider, PUC, reported that 34,000 of its customers lost power just before 11 a.m. During the outage, it was revealed that the issue stemmed from a supply problem with Hydro One rather than PUC’s distribution network.
Jairus Patterson, the spokesperson for PUC, described the situation as urgent, with all staff members mobilizing to address the power failure. According to Hydro One, the outage affected PUC and its customers, including industrial clients, due to a transmission system issue.
By around 11:40 a.m., PUC began the phased restoration of power to its service area to ensure a safe and effective process. Power was fully restored to all customers by noon. Hydro One’s teams are actively investigating the root cause of the outage to prevent future incidents.
Bianca Meta, a spokesperson for Hydro One, acknowledged the inconvenience caused by the outage and thanked customers for their patience as crews worked diligently to restore power promptly and safely. Patterson noted that while there have been localized outages in the past, the city had not experienced a blackout of this scale before. He commended the collaborative efforts of the staff in swiftly and securely bringing back power to the community.
