Rural Nova Scotians want compensation from power utility and a more resilient grid

One resident says he and other residents who suffered property damage due to power failures are hoping for a resolution when they meet with Nova Scotia Power.

Residents of a rural Cape Breton community that has lost power during cold and windy weather are looking for compensation from the utility — and a grid designed for the changing climate.

Parker Donham, a resident of Boularderie Island, says he and other residents who suffered property damage due to power failures are hoping for a resolution when they meet with two vice-presidents from Nova Scotia Power on Monday.

Donham was forced to move to a friend’s house after losing power in mid-December during a windy storm, and his water system was damaged on Feb. 4 when temperatures fell to -25 C.

His neighbours, Joella and Jim Foulds, are also seeking compensation after their refrigerator was damaged beyond repair when they lost power intermittently over three days in February.

Donham says the view of many in the community is that the grid needs to be made resilient to cope with very cold or gusty days, as scientists predict more extreme weather in the decades to come.

He says if there’s no resolution from meetings with the utility, the residents are considering applying for a public inquiry with the province’s energy regulator.

The board has the power to order the utility to change its “practices or acts, as the justice of the case may require.”

Nova Scotia Power sent out an online response to the public criticisms of the Feb. 4 outage, saying the low temperatures “overloaded electrical equipment,” adding it had been 20 years since such cold weather had been experienced in the province.