Prior To Major Event
1. Did the distributor have any prior warning that the Major Event would occur?
Yes.
Please Provide Additional Comments:
Weather forecasts indicated that there was a risk of thunderstorms, strong wind gusts and heavy rainfall late on Saturday, June 21st, into the early morning of June 22nd. Preparations and monitoring of the impactful weather began on June 20th.
2. If the distributor did have prior warning, did the distributor arrange to have extra employees on duty or on standby prior to the Major Event beginning?
Yes.
Please provide a brief description of the arrangements, or explain why extra employees were not arranged:
Additional 24/7 and Field Operator crews were secured for the night shift (7 p.m. - 7 a.m.) on Saturday, June 21st.
3. If the distributor did have prior warning, did the distributor issue any media announcements to the public warning of possible outages resulting from the pending Major Event?
Hydro Ottawa issued social media posts on its main outage communications platforms (X, Facebook and Bluesky), sharing weather warnings, emphasizing preparedness, reminding customers of outage reporting methods, and reiterating that crews were ready to respond and encouraged registration to Hydro Ottawa’s outage alerts.
4. Did the distributor train its staff on the response plans to prepare for this type of Major Event?
Yes.
During The Major Event
1. Please identify the main contributing cause of the major event as per the table in section 2.1.4.2.5 of the electricity reporting and recording keeping requirements.
- Loss of Supply
- Lightning
- Adverse Weather - Wind
- Adverse Weather - Snow
- Adverse Weather - Freezing Rain/Ice Storm
- Adverse Environment - Fire
- Adverse Environment - Flooding
- Others
Please provide a brief description of the event (i.e. what happened). If selected "other", please explain:
On June 22, 2025, a severe thunderstorm led to extensive Hydro Ottawa outages, impacting 31,125 customers. Adverse weather and subsequent tree contacts were the primary causes of interruptions, with three outage events that accounted for 64,705 customer-hours of interruption.
2. Was the IEEE Standard 1366 used to identify the scope of the Major Event?
Yes.
3. When did the Major Event begin?
June 22nd, 2025
Time: 1:04 a.m.
4. Did the distributor issue any information about this Major Event, such as estimated times of restoration, to the public during the Major Event?
Yes, estimated time of restorations (ETRs) were provided as per Hydro Ottawa protocol.
If yes, please provide a brief description of the information. If no, please explain:
The estimated time of restoration was shared with the public on the outage map and via outage alerts (emails or text messages, depending on customer notification preference). Social media updates also included images of restoration work, updates on progress, and directed people to the outage map for the most up to date information.
5. How many customers were interrupted during the Major Event?
31,125 customers were interrupted during the Major Event.
What percentage of the distributor's total customer base did the interrupted customers represent?
The event interrupted 8% of Hydro Ottawa's total customer base.
6. How many hours did it take to restore 90% of the customers who were interrupted?
91% of the impacted customers were restored by 8:14 a.m. on June 22nd, which was 7 hours and 10 minutes after the event began.
Please provide any additional comments relevant to question #6:
N/A
7. Were there any outages associated with loss of supply during the outage?
No.
If yes, please report on the duration and frequency of the loss of supply outages:
N/A
8. In responding to the Major Event, did the distributor utilize assistance through a third party mutual assistance agreement with other utilities?
No.
If yes, please provide the name of the utilities that provided the assistance:
N/A
9. Did the distributor run out of any needed equipment or materials during the Major Event?
No.
If so, please describe the shortages:
N/A
After the Major Event
1. What steps, if any, are being taken to be prepared for or mitigate such Major Events in the future (i.e., staff training, process improvements, system upgrades)?
- No further action is required at this time.
- Additional staff training
- Process improvements
- System upgrades
- Others
Additional Comments:
N/A