Yellowknife (Feb 13/06) - City-wide blackouts are annoying Yellowknife business owners, but they are realizing that they have to get used to it.

With an hour-long blackout on Tuesday morning and a series of short outages afterwards, some businesses found themselves in the dark.

"Blackouts have become routine, unfortunately," said Wal-Mart manager Vince Berzowski.

Large businesses like Wal-Mart have used the wonders of modern technology to combat the darkness.

Battery back-up devices leave their tills active so clerks can ring up any remaining purchases.

Rhonda Larocque is the owner of Northern Flair hair salon. She said her business is used to outages by now.

"We used to have emergency lights, but they need to be replaced now," said Larocque.

The temporary replacement? Flashlights.

"Bright ones," said Larocque.

Earlier last week, Larocque said a woman was in getting her hair permed when the power died.

"Luckily we were almost done wrapping her head and finished that using our flashlights," said Larocque.

The power was restored before the rinsing was done and the customer was happy with the result.

Other customers would rather just re-schedule their appointments, said Larocque.

For some other businesses, the outages are only serious depending on the time of day.

Lynda Lefrancois works at Canada Post on Franklin Avenue.

She said that when the power goes out people are asked to leave, but mail sorting can still be done.

"If it's bright outside, we can still work," said Lefrancois.

"The blackout last week was in the dark of morning, so we had to stop working."

Store manager Robin Williams and the service technicians at Roy's Audiotronics have noticed a pattern with city-wide outages.

"People start calling after a power outage and need service for their damaged TVs," said Williams.

"It's like clockwork. The power goes out and our phones start ringing."

Recent blackouts in the city have also raised concerns about power usage in the area.

"Usage of power in Yellowknife has risen in the last 10 years," said Randy Patrick, regional director for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. The kilowatt usage rate has risen 17 per cent from 1994/1995 to 2004/2005.

But the increase in usage has no connection with the recent blackouts because the outages are weather caused, said Al Mueller of Northland Utilities. "There are workers out this week to remove any frost on the power lines."

The frost build-up has been high this year and has caused blackouts in the city since January.

High winds have also accentuated the problem, with power lines slapping each other and causing shortages near the Snare Hydro power plant.

Back-up diesel generators are in place, but can only be used after a short period of time because they need to be warmed up before use, said Mueller.