Veridian updates its community power outage status report

AJAX, ON, Dec. 24, 2013 /CNW/ - Veridian crews worked through the night to restore service to customers without electricity due to the severe ice storm of last weekend. Approximately 6,000 customers had their service restored between the hours of midnight and 6:30 a.m. It is estimated that just over 7,000 customers remain without power this morning.

The overnight power restoration efforts returned service to about 2,000 customers in north Pickering, and another 4,000 customers in south-central and south-east Pickering.

Veridian has sought assistance from other Ontario electricity distributors to support its ongoing restoration efforts in the remaining affected areas. Approximately 24 line and tree trimming crews will be deployed today.

Following is a list of the more significant known power outages as of 10 a.m. today:

		Port Hope - More than 500 customers remain without power. Work is underway and service should be restored to most affected customers today.
		Orono - About 45 customers in Orono are currently without power. The cause of the problem is a damaged pole that has been identified. Repair work may be completed as early as today.
		Ajax - Outages are concentrated in an area roughly bounded by Highway #2 to the north, Lake Ontario to the south, Westney Road to the west and Lakeridge Rd. to the east. The area is supplied by six supply feeders, three of which are not in service. Approximately 4,400 customers are affected. This heavily treed area will be a focus of restoration efforts today. However, it is projected that some customers may be without power into Christmas Day.
		Pickering - Outages continue in the following areas:
		●	South-west Pickering - Approximately 1,000 customers in the area west of Dixie Road and south of Highway #2 continue to be without service. Service crews will be working in this area today.
		●	North Pickering - Approximately 500 customers continue to be without service. These include customers on the 9^th Concession east of Brock Rd., on the 8^th Concession west of Brock Road, and in the communities of Greenwood and Green River. Service crews will be working in these areas today.
		●	Miscellaneous - Smaller scale outages have been reported near the intersections of Brock Road/Major Oaks Road and Brock Road/Kingston Road.

Residents who reside outside of the above geographic zones should call 1-866-579-6819 to report that they are without power.

Customers are reminded to exercise extreme caution around damaged poles and downed wires. All fallen wires should be considered live and dangerous. Customers are urged to report the locations of fallen wires to Veridian's 24-hour Outage Hotline by calling 1-866-579-6819.

Veridian Connections Inc. safely and reliably delivers electricity to more than 116,000 customers in the Cities of Pickering and Belleville, the Towns of Ajax, Port Hope and Gravenhurst, and the communities of Uxbridge, Bowmanville, Newcastle, Orono, Port Perry, Beaverton, Sunderland and Cannington. Veridian Connections Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Veridian Corporation. The City of Pickering, the Town of Ajax, the Municipality of Clarington and the City of Belleville jointly own Veridian Corporation.

SOURCE: Veridian

Chris Mace
Sales & PR Representative - Corporate Communications
Veridian Connections Inc.
905-427-9870, extension 2218