Power outages in Canada in 2011 affected over 1 million people. The report summarized outage data by province, including the total numbers affected, outage durations and causes. Weather was a major cause of outages nationally and in most provinces, responsible for 32% of outages. Ontario had the most outages while British Columbia had the highest number of people affected.

1. Blackout Tracker Annual Report 2011
Canada
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2. The Blackout Tracker
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3. About the Blackout Tracker
• This is a summary of the information presented in the Blackout
Tracker Annual Report (available online as a PDF).
• Eaton Corporation tracks power outages in an effort to educate
visitors on their causes and impact. Although we do our best to track
this information, we cannot guarantee that every power outage is
included
• The Blackout Tracker is based on reported power outages in news
services, newspapers, websites, etc. which often give statistics using
different terms. For example, some reports may be based on
“people” while others may be based on “addresses,” “homes and
businesses” or “utility customers.” For purposes of this report all of
these are assumed to be and are counted as people.
• Submit your own power outage reports online
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4. Other power outage trackers
• United States
• Australia / New Zealand
• United Kingdom
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5. Introduction
• This is a summary of the information
presented in the Blackout Tracker annual
report (available online)
• Power outages affected people in 11
provinces and territories in 2011.
• 1,118,898 million people affected by 177
outages.
• In 2010, 1.66 million people affected by 193
outages, 1.35 million/142 in 2009
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6. Introduction
• Two parts to report
• National power outage data
• Power outage data by province
• Productivity and monetary loss*
• Power outage recovery time
• 33+%>day, 10%>week
• 48 hours to reconfigure network, data re-entry takes days
or weeks
• 33% of companies lose $20K to $500K**
• 20% lose $500K to $2M, 15 percent lose >$2M**
Source : *Price Waterhouse, **US Department of Energy
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7. Most significant outages for 2011
1. Fierce thunderstorms knocked down trees and power lines
leaving 140,000 people in Halifax, NS in the dark.
2. A wind storm caused a power outage for 70,000 residents of
Vancouver, BC.
3. More stormy weather cut power for 50,000 people in Vancouver,
BC.
4. Thunderstorms caused an outage for 50,000 people in Camp
Breton, NS.
5. An equipment problem caused 37,000 residents of Richmond,
BC to lose power.
6. High winds toppled trees and power lines, cutting power to
37,000 people in Muskoka, ON.
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8. Most unusual outages/causes
1. Copper thieves stole copper wire from a
substation causing an outage for 15,000 people in
Jonquière, QC.
2. A wayward crow got into a substation caused an
outage for 20,000 people in Richmond, BC.
3. An eavestrough was thrown at power lines in
Winnepeg, MB causing a transformer to explode
and an outage.
4. A goose hit a power line causing an outage for
8,000 people in Sault Ste Marie, ON.
5. An unlucky squirrel in Kitchener, ON, caused an
outage for 4,600 area residents.
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9. Top five provinces and territories with the
most reported outages
1. Ontario (69)
2. British Columbia (46)
3. Saskatchewan (18)
4. New Brunswick (10)
5. Manitoba (9)
Note: Ontario ranked #1 for 2009 and 2010. British
Columbia ranked #2 for each of these years.
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10. Overview of national power outage data
• 1,118,898 = Total number of people affected
by outages
• 132 hours (nearly 5.5 days) = Total duration of
outages
• 177 = Total number of outages
• 9,815 = Average number of people affected
per outage
• 188 minutes = Average duration of each
outage
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11. Reported power outages by cause
(national data)
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12. Reported power outages by duration
(national data)
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13. Reported power outages by month
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14. Reported power outages by region
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15. Pros and cons of underground power lines
• 32% of reported outages caused by weather
and 6% caused by vehicle accidents
• Why aren’t all power lines buried?
• Reasons*
• Cost - $1 Million/mile (10x above ground cost)
• Cost of transmission lines - $5 million/mile (10x
above ground cost)
• Underground lines cost more and take longer to
repair
• Underground lines are susceptible to flooding
* USA data, source: Entergy Corporation
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16. Power outages by province
• Four parts
• Outage summary
• Outage fact
• Chart of power outages by cause
• Chart of power outages by month
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17. Alberta
Outage summary
Total number of people affected by outages 3,960
Total duration of outages 360 minutes (6 hours)
Total number of outages 7
Average number of people affected per outage 1,320
Average duration of outage 180 minutes (3 hours)
Reported power outages by cause
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18. Alberta
Reported power outages by month
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19. British Columbia
Outage summary
Total number of people affected by outages 389,994
Total duration of outages 3,120 minutes (over 2 days)
Total number of outages 46
Average number of people affected per outage 12,581
Average duration of outage 240 minutes (4 hours)
Reported power outages by cause
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20. British Columbia
Reported power outages by month
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21. Manitoba
Outage summary
Total number of people affected by outages 15,155
Total duration of outages 300 minutes (5 hours)
Total number of outages 9
Average number of people affected per outage 2,165
Average duration of outage 300 minutes (5 hours)
Reported power outages by cause
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22. Manitoba
Reported power outages by month
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23. New Brunswick
Outage summary
Total number of people affected by outages 40,688
Total duration of outages 270 minutes (4.5 hours)
Total number of outages 10
Average number of people affected per outage 5,086
Average duration of outage 135 minutes (over 2 hours)
Reported power outages by cause
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24. New Brunswick
Reported power outages by month
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25. Nova Scotia
Outage summary
Total number of people affected by outages 91,836
Total duration of outages 60 minutes (1 hour)
Total number of outages 8
Average number of people affected per outage 11,480
Average duration of outage 60 minutes (1 hour)
Reported power outages by cause
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26. Nova Scotia
Reported power outages by month
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27. Ontario
Outage summary
Total number of people affected by outages 472,265
Total duration of outages 2,635 minutes (nearly 44 hours)
Total number of outages 69
Average number of people affected per outage 11,244
Average duration of outage 176 minutes (nearly 3 hours)
Reported power outages by cause
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28. Ontario
Reported power outages by month
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29. Quebec
Outage summary
Total number of people affected by outages 47,000
Total duration of outages 210 minutes (3.5 hours)
Total number of outages 6
Average number of people affected per outage 11,750
Average duration of outage 105 minutes (over 1.5 hours)
Reported power outages by cause
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30. Quebec
Reported power outages by month
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31. Saskatchewan
Outage summary
Total number of people affected by outages 50,000
Total duration of outages 640 minutes (over 10.5 hours)
Total number of outages 18
Average number of people affected per outage 5,000
Average duration of outage 160 minutes (over 2.5 hours)
Reported power outages by cause
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32. Saskatchewan
Reported power outages by month
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33. Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and
the Northwest Territories
• Newfoundland
• St. John’s
• Two outages: one caused by faulty equipment and
the other caused by high winds
• Prince Edward Island
• One outage caused by heavy snow
• Northwest Territories
• Yellowknife
• One outage caused by a faulty switch
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