The Pemberton + District Chamber of Commerce worked extensively with BC Hydro to find an alternative date for the cancelled Planned Outage (from July 2021). Based on feedback from the community, BC Hydro has rescheduled the outage for Sunday, Oct 30th from 9AM – 5PM.

Here’s some background to the decision and negotiations, that will hopefully alleviate some of the frustration at having a power-outage for the day.

As accommodating educational schedules is the most important factor in this decision, this day-long outage must be on a weekend. This date was pushed back again from September as Pemberton’s wedding and tourism industry is still thriving.

The Sunday October 30 date, just before Halloween, adds a little spookiness to the day. We hope that the community sees this as an opportunity to get outside and join the PORCA’s annual family bike ride – a fun all-ages bike ride through the forest (Piece of Kitty and Kid’s trail) decorated for Halloween – and visit the Chamber, PORCA and Pemberton Valley Supermarket for a BBQ at One Mile Lake. 

BC Hydro usually provides 14 days notice. This time however, they decided to give more notice as they understand the impact on the Village and the need to provide time to organize backup power/generators. This date was incredibly difficult to schedule, as there are many moving pieces that have to happen before and after the work, in addition to crew safety which is paramount to BC Hydro’s operations.

This outage was postponed from July of 2021 as they wanted to support the Village’s tourism recovery during COVID-19. They have now gone through several dates to try to work with everyone and be responsive to the needs of the community.

This work becomes more urgent should delays continue. Eventually it could lead to an unplanned outage that could take several days to bring back power.

Here are two websites which explain outages and help residents and businesses prepare:

Why and how we plan outages (bchydro.com)

Prepare for outages (bchydro.com)
 

We also encourage members to use the contact number below to share their feedback and get additional information. You will be sent through residential or business departments depending on the inquiry.
1-800-BCHYDRO (1-800-224-9376)