Amanda Vaughan
Northern News Services
Wednesday, July 25, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Those who got off to a late start last Friday due to an early morning power outage soon found out the day wasn't destined to get much better.

The outage at 4:51 a.m. was followed up by another no-power hour around 10:30 a.m., and after coming back on for barely 30 minutes, the electricity was out again right around noon for about 20 minutes.

In a joint release with Northland Utilities, the NWT Power Corp stated that the outages were caused by severe thunderstorms over the transmission line that feeds Yellowknife from the Snare Hydro site.

Yellowknife businesses were affected by the series of outages, particularly restaurants. Derek Carmody, co-manager of Centre Square Mall and L'Atitudes restaurant, said Friday morning was rough for the establishment.

"Today is pretty much a write off," he said Friday afternoon, referring to the effect the loss of power had on L'Atitudes' lunch business.

Carmody said the restaurant has to lock up all of the gas powered kitchen equipment in the restaurant during an outage, and that the kitchen takes 20 minutes to half an hour to power back up after things turn back on.

He estimated that the loss of revenue from the lunchtime disruption was around $1,500.

"We are losing revenue; customers can't pay with debit or credit cards," Carmody said, also mentioning that they prevent customers from entering the restaurant while the power is out.

He added that the mall's policy is to close down after 15 minutes of being without power.

Grocers, on the other hand, don't typically deal with the lunch rush.

"Most people are at work during the late morning. It wasn't very busy," said Jeff Tonge, store manager of the Extra Foods downtown location, regarding Friday's outages.

He said the store has generators to help keep the cold food fresh, and backup battery packs for the tills to keep them running as well.

"It's still a bit disappointing," Tonge said regarding the outage.

He said several people lingered in the store to wait for the power to return Friday morning, but that many customers head out of downtown with their business if they think the power might be on somewhere else.

According to Jerome Babyn from Northland Utilities, the NWT Power Corp. turns the electricity to the city back on in segments, as the system can't handle the whole city coming back on at once.

"The hospital is always first," said Babyn.

Babyn added that in the summer they try to have the downtown core on as soon as possible, but in winter the priority shifts to residential areas, where things are in danger of freezing up more quickly.