Repeated, lengthy power outages a concern for Delhi

Luke Edwards

Grant Haven Media

Norfolk councillors have asked staff to review the municipality’s emergency plan in an effort to provide people more support when lengthy power outages occur.

The request came after a delegation from resident Christopher Gill, who shared his frustrations with ongoing power outages in Delhi, some of which have lasted as long as four days for some residents. With the outages happening in the midst of an especially cold winter, the need for solutions has only become more evident, Gill said.

“We simply can’t have power outages for three or four days, do nothing about it and expect the community to fend for themselves,” he said.

Gill, who worked in the hydro industry, said Delhi faces a unique circumstance in that there’s only a single feed that provides electricity to the community. 

“When that single feed goes down, we have no redundancy,” he said.

He suggested a warming centre for Delhi, though staff said there are various requirements and regulations municipalities must follow when it comes to warming centres.

Gill also called for more advocacy from local politicians to convince Hydro One to make the necessary infrastructure improvements to reduce outages.

Mayor Amy Martin offered her support, and said both she and Michael Columbus, Ward 3 councillor for the Delhi area, have been advocating for improvements.

Later in the meeting a piece of correspondence between a Hydro One official and Columbus was shared. The message mentioned a recent site inspection, plans to perform some forestry maintenance and equipment repairs. It also said Hydro One is initiating a “future feeder project to further support system reliability for the community.” That project was moved up a year and is now expected to be completed by 2028, the correspondence said.