IF THE POWER GOES OUT, WE GET TO WORK RIGHT AWAY TO RESTORE YOUR POWER AS SAFELY AND EFFICIENTLY AS POSSIBLE.

With 20,815 km of line (enough to stretch across Canada four times), getting the power back on after a major storm is a big job. Sometimes we need to wait until the weather clears before we can safely assess the situation. This means it can take time to provide accurate estimates of when power may be restored. The cause of the power outage may also be difficult to locate or access. This can impact the time it takes for our teams to restore your power.

No matter the conditions, our teams are dedicated to working through our restoration plan and will have your power back on as soon as we safely can.

If there are lines or electrical equipment down in your area, call 1 800 663-6272. Be sure to stay at least 10 metres away and to keep pets and children clear of the area. If your whole neighbourhood is without power, report the outage at the link below.

 PLAN

To be able to act efficiently, we need to have a plan for what to work on first. We’ve based that plan around restoring power to the largest amount of people, and critical services first. See our plan below:

1. First priority is always to ensure public safety in the case of an emergency.
2. Check and repair any impact to the transmission system.
3. Restore power to critical services such as hospitals, police, fire, water, and communication systems.
4. Make repairs that will return service to the largest number of customers in the least amount of time, such as high-density housing and large neighbourhoods.
5. Restore power to smaller neighbourhoods and individual customers.

PREPARE

We are constantly monitoring the weather, to anticipate and adapt to storms. We’re also taking actions to minimize the potential for power outages. Here’s how:

1. Conduct regular preventative activities including maintaining electrical equipment, tree maintenance, and patrolling lines.
2. Exercise regular training scenarios to ensure all resources are prepared to respond to any type of event.
3. Maintain crews throughout the province and monitor weather systems to be able to anticipate and pre-emptively dispatch crews if needed in response to weather related situations.
4. Work with other utilities through mutual aid agreements in the event of extreme volumes of power outages.
5. Secure additional local resources to areas throughout the province predicted to experience the worst part of a storm.
6. Retain materials (lines, poles, and transformers) on designated restoration vehicles and in stockpiles around the province to reduce travel times during restorations.

 COORDINATE

When severe outages are reported, our response team coordinates restoration efforts across the province, including:

1. NB Power Restoration Teams: We set each team’s individual priorities, managing resources, and ensuring that power is shut-off while our teams are working on lines to keep their work safe.
2. The New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization: Any time there is a large scale event that affects multiple communities within the province, the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization brings together representatives from all aspects of government into one place to coordinate large scale relief efforts which includes things like flooding, fire, hurricanes, and winter storms. They support the overall restoration effort to keep New Brunswickers safe.
3. First Responders: We communicate with first responders (police, fire, and ambulance) to keep the public safe and ensure our team has up-to-date information.
4. Transportation and Public Works: It’s impossible to restore power in locations that we can’t access so we coordinate with the groups who clear and maintain the roads around the province to be able to get where we need to be and restore power.

Looking for more information on outages and power restoration? Check out our additional resources below or visit the outage FAQ page.