Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro (Hydro) is continuing to experience very high electricity loads on the Island Interconnected System. This, in combination with our reduced generation availability from ongoing repairs, means rotating outages will continue tonight and tomorrow.

“We experienced a new record load last evening – reaching approximately 1550 megawatts (MW), which is about 400MW higher than we have previously experienced,” said Dawn Dalley, Vice President Corporate Relations, Nalcor Energy. “Temperatures are still very cold and the storm ongoing for parts of the province will also likely increase electricity demand.”

Hydro is urging both residential and businesses customers on the island to avoid unnecessary electricity usage and reduce consumption as much as possible over the weekend. In particular, it is very important for customers to turn off lights, electrical appliances, and turn down thermostats when power is off – to avoid a large surge to the system when power is restored.

Customers can assist in conserving electricity by:
1. Reducing electric heat by a few degrees
2. Conserving hot water by not running dishwashers, washers and showers
3. Avoiding the use of clothes dryers
4. Turning off Christmas lights

With the loss of load on the system, Hydro and Newfoundland Power have been rotating outages for customers. Outages are between 30 and 60 minutes in duration. Rotating outages may be experience into Saturday or until weather conditions improve.

Updates will be provided as required and Hydro thanks all customers for their patience and support.

For information on outages please visit Hydro’s website at www.nlh.nl.ca and Newfoundland Power at www.newfoundlandpower.com.