Nearly 400,000 Canadians In Quebec Remain In The Dark

While 400,000 of its customers endure a third week without power, Quebec’s embattled electric company is planning a costly upgrade to lessen the chances that the chaos caused by this month’s ice storm could recur.

The number of people without power has dropped from 3 million at the peak of the five-day storm that began Jan. 5. But repairs of toppled transmission lines are taking longer than expected, and more than 200,000 people in towns south and east of Montreal are likely to still be without electricity next week.

The provincial power company, Hydro-Quebec, is recommending that $450 million be spent over the next 18 months to strengthen its distribution network.

“People in recent years thought the network as it stands was perfectly secure,” said Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard. “Obviously it’s not secure any more, so we have to put up improvements.”

Hydro-Quebec wants to add four new high-voltage transmission lines and reinforce existing towers to make them less vulnerable to collapsing from heavy ice.

Though Bouchard has endorsed Hydro-Quebec’s plans and promised that power rates won’t rise for three years, there has been some sharp criticism.

The Montreal daily Le Devoir said it was “contemptuous” of the government to adopt the utility’s plan without extensive public debate. Other critics say the plan gives short shrift to environmental concerns and does nothing to alleviate Quebec’s reliance on electricity.