Squirrel behind power outage?
TORONTO, ONTARIO - A squirrel that crawled into a hydro substation in the downtown core may have caused a power outage at about 11 a.m. September 19.
Toronto Hydro doesn't know if it was the squirrel or a piece of defective equipment that caused a short in the system.
A dead squirrel, apparently electrocuted, was found in the substation at Wellington and John Sts. this morning.
The area west of Yonge St. to Spadina Ave. and from Queen St. south to the lake was affected.
Some businesses and residents lost power and some traffic problems were reported. The power was disrupted for just under two hours.
"Aside from storms, animal contacts do cause a lot of outages," Toronto Hydro spokesperson Tanya Bruckmueller said. "Less in the downtown area," she added. "It's more common on overhead lines in the suburban areas."
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B.C. electricity demand hits an all-time high
VANCOUVER - BC Hydro says the province set a new record for peak electricity demand on Monday as temperatures hit extreme lows.
Between 5 and 6 p.m. on Dec. 27, demand for electricity hit an all-time high of 10,902 megawatts, which is higher than the previous record of 10,577 megawatts set in 2020.
“The record represents a single moment in the hour when demand for electricity was the highest yesterday,” says Simi Heer, BC Hydro spokesperson, in a statement. “Most of the increase is likely due to additional home heating required during this cold snap.”
In addition to the peak demand record on…